Entertainment/Gaming Consoles

I'm kinda getting back into game consoles, so I figure I'll open up a discussion here.

First of all, what's your favorite of all time?

Currently I have a PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Dreamcast and N64 all set up and functioning. I also own a Gameboy Advance (sorta - I bought it mainly for Jenni but I play it sometimes too), Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 2600, Atari 7800 and a Sega Genesis (original).

I really really <b>really</b> want to get a Super Nintendo and a Sega Saturn. A lot of people dissed the Saturn, but I liked it a lot - I thought it was pretty good overall. The most fun I ever had on that system was at my friend Victor's house, playing Dead or Alive all night with Tory. Man those were good days. As far as Super Nintendo, there was a bass fishing game on there that was really good, and the nostalgia of Street Fighter 2 (my favorite fighting game ever) is pretty strong. So I'd like to get it just for those few games.

PlayStation is arguably the best console ever, simply because it lasted so long (games are <b>still</b> coming out for it 8 years later), it had real 3D, it was far ahead of its time (okay, Saturn looked like shit beside it), and it had <b>so many games</b>. I just got one two years ago (Christmas of '99) and I've had a blast playing it. It's also got the best game ever (Metal Gear Solid). The controllers were (are) great. And now you can get games for like $10.

Dreamcast was a great console, and it still is. At only $50, game enthusiasts shouldn't be without one. Controllers are dirt cheap now too, and the games aren't usually very expensive either. I was really sad to see Sega fail, but somehow they managed to mess everything up. I only got a Dreamcast about a year ago and I've definitely had fun on it. Soul Calibur is <b>awesome</b>. It's probably the best fighting game ever (though not quite my favorite - see above). Crazy Taxi is good fun. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater really makes Dreamcast a great console to own - that game is beyond fun, and the Dreamcast made it look great before any other console did. Sonic Adventure is pretty fun too. Dreamcast is what Saturn <b>should</b> have been, but it was also ahead of its time. PlayStation2 came out six months afterward and even after its supposedly amazing graphics hardware, the games look about the same as Dreamcast games. Two years later and PlayStation2 still hasn't been "tapped" to its potential - the closest that comes to it is Gran Turismo 3. It's hard to compare a fighter to a racer, but Soul Calibur is easily just as good, graphics-wise, as Gran Turismo 3. Dreamcast is a great console.

All that having been said, my favorite console of all time is probably Sega Genesis. I think that it looked better than the Super Nintendo, and its games were hella fun. NBA Jam was one of the funnest basketball games ever released. There were some great WWF Wrestling titles available as well. Genesis had just about everything that I enjoyed playing.

Atari 2600 was simply a great console too. It didn't look as good as the 7800, but it had a ton of games. The controllers were so simple compared to what we have nowadays. A joystick and a button. But what made it, and what makes every console, were the games. Barnstorming. Combat. Pitfall! Carnival. Frogger. The Empire Strikes Back. Spiderman. They were all great. There were so many carts and they were <b>all</b> great! God that was a great console.

My favorite console that I currently have up and running is probably the Xbox. I have to say, it beats the pants off PlayStation2 for graphics, and Xbox hasn't even been tapped yet. Second generation games are going to be amazing. The harddrive is cool because I'm never going to run out of game-save space. The controllers are nice. The sound is good too. Everything about it is good. It seriously is a great console, despite what many Microsoft bashers say. But, as I said above, software makes the console. It needs to have games you're interested in. I have (and enjoy) Dead or Alive 3, Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge (wow!), Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Silent Hill 2 is also sitting at my house, but it's Andrea's. Anyway, all of these titles are pretty tight. It's good.

To buy: a new Genesis, Saturn, GameCube, Super Nintendo, in that order.

What's your favorite console? Why? Which ones do you have? What do you enjoy most now? What are your favorite games?

Let's get talking about these :)

you know, im in the minority amongst my gaming 'friends', but i really dig the dreamcast. breaks my heart sega got out of the hardware business.

i have had nothing but fun on that console. if you havent tried sega bass fishing (the first one, i dont like the second as much), you really need to give that a shot. especially if you can get your hands on a fishing controller. and some beer. :)

the console im playing the most right now would be the gba tho. i picked up golden sun so i could survive one of my wifes 'drag-james-along-shopping' trips, and that game has been a heck of a lot of fun. i also picked up zelda oracle of ages and oracle of seasons. almost as much fun as the snes zelda.

i have a gamecube, and its a little light on 'must-own' titles right now, but super smash bros melee is a fantastic, rogue squadron rules, and its easily the cutest box on my entertainment center.

~james

I'm looking to get a GameCube. The titles I really want are Rogue Squadron, Super Smash Brothers Melee and Super Monkey Ball. All of those games are pretty tight.

The game I <b>really</b> want is <b>Soul Calibur 2</b>. Guaranteed to look <b>incredible</b> on the Xbox. Yum.

I absolutely adore my Dreamcast. I don't know anyone that thinks lowly of it. It's awesome.

soul calibur 2 looks excellent. between that and the new toejam and earl game, i may just break down and buy an xbox. especially if someone manages to port some decent emulators to it. i was ecstatic when nesterdc got good enough that i could start using my dreamcast for nes games and i could set my nes in a place of honor in my office. i still pull it down for certain games; dragon warrior and guardian legend, but the fact that i can save wear and tear on it is nice.

there are some really good homebrew games and ports for the dreamcast. check out consolevision.com.

~james

I've really tried to get into console games, but I just don't like them. In my opinion, computer games are always nearly 1000 times better. I'm not really sure why I feel this way. It just seems like you can do so much more with them.. perhaps because you have 101 buttons instead of just 4 or 5. :]


I mean, honestly.. can you really compare a racing, fishing, or fighting game to Diablo II or Starcraft??

Plus, you've got multiplayer online.


Anway, every time i've tried to get into a console game, all I could think of was how lame it was.

Well, when you have friends and they come over to your house, trash talking and eating Pringles while playing Dead or Alive 3 is a lot of fun. When you have no friends and therefore spend all of your time on your computer playing Diablo II or Starcraft, the prospect of actually meeting people and playing games with them is probably pretty scary, therefore making one of the major allures of a game console a detriment instead..

Plus, you've obviously never played Metal Gear Solid. MGS makes Diablo II and Starcraft and Quake 3 and every other computer game obsolete. It may not look like much (it was on the PlayStation, for christ's sake), but it's got it where it counts - story and gameplay and depth. You'd be hard pressed to beat it on any platform.

Besides, I want to play games on a big screen, not a 19" monitor.

computer games are great (ive been messing with the freedom force demo, definitely picking that up). but i agree with dhamsaic. having a bunch of friends over and and playing some soul calibur, super puzzle fighter or even mario party is great. the trash talk is classic.

the thing is, for the most part computer games have more depth. civ3, diablo 2, heroes or might and magic, etc. all have very deep and involving gameplay. but im a pac-man kind of guy. i like my gratification instant. crazy taxi on the dreamcast provides that. i can play a game for 5 minutes and enjoy it. lots of console games provide that. playing a computer game sometimes feels like work to me. i love simcity, but sometimes i cant play it because its too much thinking.

~james

i think it's all about mood and environment. what do you expect from a game?

for something that's very involved, i have turned to clan play online with quake3. i've been doing it for almost two and a half years now and it's been very rewarding long term. i have a lot of fun in matches. but it's taken a lot of time to build up the teamwork and whatnot that we have. it wasn't as fun a year ago.

on the other hand, you can definitely get that on the console. take a look at "halo", "metal gear solid" and "metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty". all three of them are very involved, have good stories (metal gear solid more than the other two) and provide satisfaction equivalent to that of diablo ii and the like.

however, console games are also good for quick fun. like perth mentioned, "crazy taxi" is a great example of a game you can pick up and have fun with in 5 or 10 minutes. you pop it in, it just <b>works</b> first time (and every time thereafter), and you play. controls are simple and easy to learn.

i definitely enjoy computer gaming (or i wouldn't play quake3 so much), but console gaming has its place as well, and i think that dismissing consoles straight-out simply because you haven't been impressed with what you've seen is based largely on ignorance. there's much more out there. :)

Well, i'm not dismissing them outright. The majority of the population likes console games -- i'm just saying that i'm not one of them. I am stating my minority opinion.

If a game is designed to be played in 5-10 minutes, then I usually lose interest in about 5-10 minutes. The type of games I like are those that consume your life for 3-5 months and require a sacrifice of 4-8 hours a day. Oh yeah, baby. B^)

Also, I haven't played Metal Gear Solid yet. If it's as good as you say i'll definitely have to check it out. Still, if i was limited to under 10 buttons i'd just get annoyed.

(ah.. excellent.. it looks like it has been ported to the PC)

Also, I can definitely see the point as far as friends coming over goes. I have LAN at home so it's not really an issue for me.. but I suppose most people only have 1 computer.

when 5-10 minutes is all youve got, you learn to appreciate the games that can be played in that precious amount of time.

i was so much more into computer games before i had my son. but diablo II gets hard to play when you have a geek-in-training on your lap trying to reach the keyboard. and nothing calms that kid down like seeing the dreamcast swirl.

actually, hes fascinated by bejeweled (bejeweled). i think its the 'plonk' noises. i just hope hes old enough to entertain himself when 'worlds of warcraft' comes out.

~james

Metal Gear Solid is really great the first 10 times around. What's awesome about it is that it consumes you. It sucks you in. Watch the cut scenes. Every single one of them. The first time, anyway. Try different things. There are a lot of things to figure out. What's better, it's actually challenging.

Now... if I skip the cut scenes, I can beat it in probably 3-4 hours... but that's a really quick run through, doing nothing extra, and it definitely is a waste of the game.

When I first started playing it back in early 2000, it had me drawn in for probably 2 weeks straight. That's how long it took me to beat it the first time (and *really* beat it). After that, there's lots of reasons to go back and beat it again - the stealth suit, the bandana... submit to the torture... don't submit to the torture... it's all good.

As for longer games that take 3-5 months at 4-8 hours a day... I simply don't have the time. Full time woman, full time job, part time Quake... and I actually find time to sleep in there.

Got my first console in 1983...the Atari 2600. Wound up getting 40 or so games for it in the end. Went through 5 or so joysticks and a couple of power adapters. My brother still has it in St. Louis.

I got an Intellivision in 1984. Now that was a sweet console. Very state-of-the-art for its time. My brother also has that back home.

My brother got a Sega Master System, but by the time he got it, it was going the way of the 'saurs. I think he still has that too.

I had an NES all of 3 months. My brother broke it. Bastard. We wound up getting another one years later.

He got a Genesis in the early '90s. I have it here in Philadelphia. Great system. You could still rent the games at Blockbuster until a few years ago. I always did like it.

I got a PSX 2 Xmases ago. Another great system. I enjoy it to no end, and it was especially useful during my periods of unemployment. Just got new games for it at Xmas time. In fact, I will be using it for a Sharon vs. Arafat match. (More on that later.)

I played X-Box at dham's place in January. It IS nice...fantastic graphics. I still lean towards PS2 though...I may buy one this Xmas.

Personally, my favorite system of all time is the SNES. It had some of the best games ever on that thing, and every type of game imaginable. Short, instant gratification games, and long, in-depth games, and of course, RPGs out the whazoo. Final Fantasy 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Earthbound, Super Metroid, all SNES games, and quite easily my favorite games of all time.

Final Fantasy 3 was the first and only game to ever make me go "WOW" with the graphics, sound, and even the story. Every FF game since has disappointed me (although they are still good games) and no other game has made me do the same thing with them.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Earthbound were just plain fun. Games like those are really lacking nowadays. Not instant gratification, but fun, really really really fun.

Right now though, I guess my PS2 is my fav, mainly because the GameCube doesn't have many titles out on it yet, as those will all be coming out at the end of the year.

Oh yeah, and to the comment earlier about buttons and keys; console games don't NEED 101 keys. The developers have managed to get everything done with only 4-8 buttons. Personaly, I think that's more impressive then spreading it out across 101 keys and possibly confusing the crap out of players (I still haven't learned what all the keys do in Asherons Call)

I just got Grand Theft Auto 3 and a memory card (from EBGames - Thanks Chris!) for my PS2, and I plan to get some play time in today. Jenni wouldn't let me last night. "Oh, let's go eat dinner, I'm hungry" - "Oh, I'm tired, let's go to bed." Sheesh. Food and sleep can wait. :)

Seriously though, I was playing Tony Hawk 3 (Xbox) last night and it is <b>hard</b>! Gravity has much more an effect on me now than it did in 1 and 2. Dammit! Balancing on rails seems much more difficult now too.

MGS2 on my PS2 is pretty fun so far. The one thing I don't like is that it's not quite the same feel as MGS on PlayStation. For instance, it's zoomed in more - Snake appears larger than he did in PlayStation. The controls are different as well, but I'll get used to that - they're probably for the better or Hideo wouldn't have changed 'em. Anyway, with Metal Gear Solid 2 and Grand Theft Auto III, PS2 may just turn out to be my favorite console.

SNES was definitely pretty cool, but I never had one so I never really got to get into it. I rented one a few times and all my friends had one, but I was on the Genesis side from day one. It just seemed a cooler console to me. :)

You know, speaking of the Sega Genesis, I really need to get a Sega Nomad. Genesis games on a portable system, that's just plain cool.

Also, the new Greatest Hits for the PS2 has come into effect now, so I can get all the games I've wanted for only 20 bucks now. Oh yeah, MGS2, Dark Cloud, Twisted Metal Black, all three for only sixty bucks. That ought to help take my mind off of things for a while now.

I never really noticed any problems with the gravity in THPS3 for the GC, just that it's basically a revamped THPS2...125,000 from grinding all over the first level...

I really wish I knew what the first game I ever played was called. It was on a really really really old apple (1985, I believe). This guy was stranded on some planet and had to go around and kill aliens with his ray gun and collect apples for health. It was kind of like Legend of Zelda, except way before Legend of Zelda. That was the game that got me hooked onto VGs for life, and I really wish I knew what it was called, because I want to download it and an emulator. Nostalgia, baby, nostaligia.

I have an original Playstation, a SNES, an Atari 2600 (bought with a load of cartridges as a birthday present for my wife), an original Gameboy (barely works--the battery connection is loose), and a brand-new Game Boy Advance.

I don't really bother with PC games... partly I can't be bothered to keep my computer up to get good performance out of them (I currently have a 4 yo 233MHz MMX system at home). It's completely irrational.

As for the consoles, I would take the Playstation as the primo console in terms of number & variety of games, and I still drag it out occasionally. But the one I spend the most time with is the Gameboy... I can carry it anywhere in the house and don't have to negotiate for use of the TV or computer. (Being old-fashioned, we only have one of each. Well, one WORKING one of each.) The other thing is, Gameboy games tend to be simpler, and that suits me. Those of you of A Certain Age may remember Defender, which was one of the popular arcade games when I was in high school back in the early 80s. I could never play it--WAY too complicated. It had 4 or 5 different kinds of ammunition, so you had to remember which button did what, etc. etc. Frogger and Q-Bert are more my speed. So, while I've whiled away the occasional hour or two playing Tomb Raider or Final Fantasy Tactics on the Playstation, the bulk of my gaming time is puzzle or classic arcade titles on the Gameboy.

Check on eBay for a Nomad. I've been thinking about getting one for a while now but I'm more interested in just having the Genesis hooked up to my TV at home. I'll need to buy another A/V switch (currently have 4 consoles hooked up to that TV on one A/V switch, wahoo) and then use it for GameCube, Super Nintendo and Genesis, but that's alright. I can do that. :)

Man, I spent a lot of time this weekend on Tony Hawk 3 and Grand Theft Auto and <b>DAMN!</b> GTA3 is <b>good</b>. Tony Hawk 3 is <b>good</b>. Tony Hawk 3 still seems harder than the first one, but I have all of the important stats (air, hangtime, ollie, rail balance, spin, etc) all maxed out now, so I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it. I was watching some of the movies they have and some of the moves they do are just fucking nuts. Manuals in between grinds, that sort of shit. 600,000 point moves and stuff. I need to get that good. :) I'm thrilled when I pull off a 20,000 point combo. Damn.

A bunch of responses:

My console collection (a few of each in most cases):
* Atari 2600/5200/7800/XEGS/Jaguar
* Mattel Intellivision (original gold and condensed white), Aquarius
* ColecoVision
* Odyssey^2
* Bally Astrocade
* Three Vectrexes
* Sega Master System, Genesis, CDX, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear
* Nintendo NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, (wife's) Game Boy / GB Color
* TurboGrafx/16, TurboDuo, import adapter, two TurboExpresses
* Sony PSX (two, one modded), PS2
* Goldstar 3DO
* Microvision
* multiple NeoGeo Pocket Colors

Yes, I have zero life. As for my own gaming preferences:

PORTABLES: The NGPC has grown on me quite a bit. Cardfighter's Clash has burned away much of my free time, it actually makes fighting games playable in a two-button format, and its capabilities (IMHO) blew away the GB Color. Pity that it didn't have Nintendo's marketing muscle or Pokemon.

The Game Boy family has never really grown on me that much -- there are games I'll play on them, certainly, but nothing that's made me run out and buy one for myself. Fire Pro Wrestling for the GBA has me tempted, but I'll wait until I find one for cheap.

The Game Gear is (and was) a hunk of junk. Ditto for the Microvision.

For my money, the best portable of all time is clearly the TurboExpress -- color screen, easy Japanese game compatibility, a TV Tuner attachment, and the ability to play the FULL system's games instead of scaled-down ports (think of what the GB would be like if it could play real NES/SNES carts). The Nomad is similar, but played Genesis games (most of which I disdain) and ate up batteries extremely quickly.

OLD-SCHOOL CONSOLES: The Atari 2600 had the game library, pure and simple. Once 2600 adapters existed for the Intellivision and ColecoVision, there was no longer any reason to own a real 2600. Intellivision was the king of sports and strategy games, and gets my nod as the king of its era; ColecoVision had some funky arcade ports and finishes a close second.

The Bally Astrocade had The Incredible Wizard (a FANTASTIC port of Wizard of Wor) and little else to recommend it, apart from the coolest controllers of all time. (Trigger-grip with a rotating knob on top that doubled as a joystick -- a thing of beauty.) The Odyssey^2 had K.C. Munchkin (the best home Pac-Man until the authentic 5200 version came out, and even that was flawed by the horrid 5200 joysticks) and not much else. A 5200 with real controllers would have ruled the fricking world; as it was, it was a footnote. (Still has the only home port of Space Dungeon, though.)

Anyone who doesn't have a Vectrex is missing the boat -- it was such a unique gaming experience that everyone should play it at least once. (Picture a vertical mini-TV with vector graphics, playing an Asteroids clone, Cinematronics ports and a host of fun-but-funky ports.) I have one for sale, BTW. Sadly, the 3D goggles are like hen's teeth to find.

The other old-timer consoles (the original Odyssey, Fairchild Channel F, APF Imagination Machine, RCA Studio II, Emerson Arcadia, etc.) weren't much beyond glorified Pong machines.

I'll split this up for readability purposes...

CARTRIDGE CONSOLES: What can I say about the NES? Obviously, it was the 900-pound gorilla of its era -- lots of great games, lots of real stinkers. Some authentic ports of old-school classics, some "modernizations" that were wincingly bad (I'm looking at YOU, NES Gyruss). Anyone who can't find five games worth playing on the NES isn't trying, though they may have to wade through some crap to find them. The Sega Master System tried to compete and failed, though it did spawn one of the first great console RPGs (Phantasy Star).

I've never been sold on either the Genesis or the SNES. Too many platformers, too many repetitive games, too much shovelware. There were gems for both systems, of course (FF2-3, Ogre Battle, Mario Kart, perhaps Tetris Attack for the SNES, Herzog Zwie, the Thunder Force series, and the Sonics for the Genny), but I've played both systems combined less than I have, say, my Jaguar or my 3DO. There were fun games to be found, but the Japanese titles (most of which never found their way here) were often far more interesting than what I see today clogging flea-market bargain bins.

The TurboGrafx (and its Japanese version, the PC-Engine) was the most underrated system ever, IMHO. Fabulous power, great games, easy compatibility with Japanese titles, ports that were often better than the SNES/Genesis versions, some of the best shoot-em-ups ever (Blazing Lazers comes to mind), and a CD-ROM attachment to come. PLUS you could play your games on the road with the Express. Other than the price tag, what wasn't to like?

And the Jaguar... well, let's just say that there are exactly four (4) games worth having for the Jag. Tempest 2000, Rayman, Defender 2000, and Aliens vs. Predator. AvP looks horribly dated today, as it has the framerate of a flip-book. However, the first three will RULE YOUR WORLD -- some of the best games ever created. (The Jaguar CD is best left as a curiosity.)

I'll cover the N64 in the next section, despite its lack of CD-ROM capabilities...

THE CD-ROM ERA: ...because its specs once included a CD-ROM unit, to be designed by Sony. When that fell through, Sony designed their own CD-ROM console, and the rest was history...

But the Sega CD and 3DO did come first. The former had zero going for it other than Working Designs RPGs, particularly the Lunar series (now available on PSX). The latter had a handful of titles that were wonderful in their day (the original Need For Speed, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Samurai Shodown, PO'ed, Out Of This World, Shanghai, Battlesport, Gex, Alone in the Dark).

The TurboCD (also sold as a standalone TurboDuo console) remains one of my favorites, even if some of its games are dated today. Great games, very easy Japan compatibility, and the best Castlevania game EVER (Dracula X: The Rondo of Blood).

And then came Sony. It took me a while to warm up to the PSX, but once a bunch of worthy imports started trickling in (and even more so when I modded my system to play imports that WEREN'T brought to the States), I wore it out to the point where I had to replace the CD-ROM drive. The game library is huge and varied, and there's really no reason not to own one. Whatever your tastes, games of that type exist therein.

The N64, on the other hand, is wonderful as long as you're between the ages of eight and sixteen. I was not. To this day, it and the Atari Lynx are the only major mass-marketed game systems I haven't bought between the 2600 and the PS2, because there's simply nothing I want to play on it that badly. (The Lynx is more of an oversight on my part, and that I can't find the carts for it cheaply.)

The Saturn was badly underrated. It had a lot of quirky games nothing like what the other systems were offering (NiGHTS, the Panzer Dragoon series, Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes), it had Sega's flagship titles (VF2, Virtua Cop, Fighters Megamix, Daytona, Sega Rally, Virtual On), it had easy Japanese compatibility, and it had major multitaps (six-player Fire Pro Wrestling S! Ten-player Bomberman!). Plus LOTS of awesome imports like Fire Pro S, Soukyugurentai, Cotton 2, Chatting Parodius and Bubble Symphony...

The Saturn failed to kill the PSX, so Bernie Stolar pulled the plug on it in the US in favor of the Dreamcast. Again, an underrated console, for many of the same reasons -- Fire Pro D on it remains my favorite wrestling game for realism AND fun, Soul Calibur and the NFL2K series are jaw-dropping, VF3 is there, Crazy Taxi is flat-out fun... but the game library was lacking for a while and by the time it started catching up, the PS2 had arrived and the DC was dead in the water.

I picked up the PS2 this Christmas -- again, I was waiting for second-generation titles that interested me. Grand Theft Auto 3 is certainly that; I have no memory of anything that happened in the month of January, apart from missions and carjackings and blowing up ice-cream trucks with rocket launchers for the sheer malicious glee of it. This is my favorite game of the entire CD-ROM era, one of the best of all time -- it's deep and playable on so many levels, whether you're playing it with a purpose or just screwing around. My wife's been having fun with Fatal Frame (think Resident Evil with cameras), Virtua Fighter 4 is tremendous and a major upgrade to the series, Devil May Cry is flashy... the library has plenty of weak spots, but the good games (like GTA3) far outweigh the negatives.

The XBox bores me so far, as does the Gamecube. Not necessarily bad consoles, but there's nothing yet for either that excites me. Maybe next year.

So, what did I miss?

Man. I'm on the mission for Tony where you blow up the laundromat trucks (I've only been playing for a day, remember) and it is damn <b>hard</b>. I blow up a truck and automatically get 2 stars on the cop radar. From there I maybe get 1 more before I'm busted. :( Any secrets to this?

Originally posted by vsp
Fire Pro D on it remains my favorite wrestling game for realism AND fun

Oh man, Fire Pro D is the best video game ever. Metal Gear, Schmetal Schmear.

I'm gonna take a guess that you mean GTA3, and not Tony? I don't remember blowing up trucks in Tony...

Anyways, if you just take your time blowing them up, you should be ok. Plus, the trucks go all over the city, just follow one until it's not near anything else, and then blow it up. If you get stars from it, you'll be in the middle of nowhere, and should be able to stay away from the cops until your wanted level goes down. Then just go do it again.

Oh, hehe. Yeah, GTA3, but that's a mission for the mob guy Tony. That's what I meant :) Tony Hawk I'm doing pretty well on, working on manuals between tricks and shit. Pulled off like an 80,000 point combo earlier. Now <b>that</b> was cool.

Sadly, because I spent most of the night cleaning up the living room, I have not yet had the chance to work on some PS2 gaming. Like I said, I've been playing Tony though. Jenni wanted to play with me, and when a girl wants to play a video game, I let her - this is a rare occasion, my friends. Must encourage good behavior. :)

Man, I hope when they put out the PS2 hard drive, they take advantage of the FireWire port on the front of the PS2. That would totally rule, especially if you could save game data to it and shit. Lalala. I do like PS2. I'm just not as impressed, graphically, with the games as I am with Xbox. Plus I think that the Xbox hardware will take it farther than PS2. Wait for the games that come out this winter... they'll be killer I bet.

Must get GameCube... Rogue Leader... Super Monkey Ball... Soul Calibur 2...

This guy I work with went to Activision for a job interview and he was telling me about some of the guys there. Apparently, one of the guys at Activision can consistently get 50,000,000 point combos (yes that's the right number of zeros) without even trying.

Now that's just sick.

He might have had the cheat codes in. I've seen some <b>unreal</b> combos and they only go up to about a million points or so... :)

If I had perfect rail balance and perfect manual balance (like maybe what the Activision guy had), I could do 50,000,000 point combos too... but I don't :) However, I did play some Hawk last night after writing that (okay, about 90 minutes worth, while I was waiting for laundry) and I got some <b>nice</b> combos pulled out. My favorite was on the Canada level, starting out with a couple grinds (all together to get my special meter up), manual real quick over to the ramp on the left, grind down that, manual out of it and over to one of the pipes going down the parking lot, grind that, quick manual to the ramp, then pull a 900 :) revert the landing, manual over to a rail, grind up it (awww yeah), then find something else to do at the top. As you can imagine, I was getting some pretty nice points off it : )

Originally posted by dhamsaic
Man. I'm on the mission for Tony where you blow up the laundromat trucks (I've only been playing for a day, remember) and it is damn <b>hard</b>. I blow up a truck and automatically get 2 stars on the cop radar. From there I maybe get 1 more before I'm busted. :( Any secrets to this?

Sure. The easiest way to handle this mission is to get in a car and follow a targeted truck. When it gets to a place where it stops, like a red light (since they're not on alert yet), pull in front of the truck and block its path without touching it. Then carjack the truck and drive it away, leaving the angry driver behind.

Destroy the truck any way you like -- take it to the crusher, flip it over, ram it into things until it's flaming, get out and grenade/shotgun it until it blows. With you behind the wheel, you can take it somewhere quiet where the cops won't notice, or destroy it by non-weapon means (flipping over or ramming) that the cops don't care about. Then grab another car and go after the NEXT laundry truck. Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you prefer the hands-on method, remember that you can always visit the Pay & Spray to wipe your police record, even in mid-mission...

jeff. your one-stop GTA3 guru (halfway through his third trip through the game)

that's a damn fine idea. i figured that since i was given grenades, i should use them. i never thought about carjacking those though. haha. as hansel says, "it's so simple!"

i have been tony hawkin' it supreme lately, but i might have to get some gta3 in real soon after those tips. i can't really give you any about tony hawk, except "practice" :)

Man. Tony Hawk owns my life. God.

I'm done all my work here today so I'm waiting for Mike to give me something more to do. In the meantime, I'm thinking about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I have the original on the Dreamcast and versions 2x and 3 on Xbox.

And I want to go home and play.

Man, they're such complete games... there's so much to do in them. All I can think of is getting home and playing. I only beat the first one with one character - Tony. I should beat it with more.

I haven't even beaten 2x yet (not enough time). I should beat it with all the characters. Unlock everything. Must. Do. Everything.

And then there's 3... which I'm making damn good headway on. But I still need to make perfect runs with all the skaters. God.

By the time I'm done all that, Tony Hawk 4 will have been out for a while and I'll probably already have it. I am addicted.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has got to be one of the best game series ever. I simply can't think of anything more complete and perfect.

There aren't enough hours in the day...

Originally posted by dhamsaic
that's a damn fine idea. i figured that since i was given grenades, i should use them. i never thought about carjacking those though. haha. as hansel says, "it's so simple!"

i have been tony hawkin' it supreme lately, but i might have to get some gta3 in real soon after those tips. i can't really give you any about tony hawk, except "practice" :)

Oddly enough, I have never tried any of the Tony Hawk games. I know how critically acclaimed they are, but they just haven't piqued my interest. Same goes for Tomb Raider in all its incarnations. The only skating game I have was Jet Grind Radio for the DC, and I never got out of the training mode on that.

The beauty of GTA3 is that there are usually several ways to approach the average mission. For instance, you've offed "Chunky" Lee Chong by now, and may have had some difficulty if you approached it in the obvious way (you have to deal with or run past three Triad gunsels while Chunky flees to his car). Option two is to find the bums in the tunnel underneath Saint Mark's -- run 'em over, take their Molotov cocktails, then go back to Chinatown and fling one from a distance. Chunky will be roasted before he or his flunkies even know you're in town.

Or option three is less efficient, but gets major points for style -- without alerting Chunky, steal his getaway car (a Perennial). Take it to 8-Ball's, put a bomb in it, then go back to Chinatown and flush him out. He'll run to his car (which you put back where you found it), start to drive away and FOOM! Mission cleared, overtime for the maid.

Free hint: do as much as you can in Portland (hidden packages, rampages, and particularly El Burro's missions) _before_ you leave for Staunton Island. (You can't leave yet, but you'll know your opportunity when it arrives.) Without spoiling too much, those missions will be a lot harder if you leave town and come back. And if El Burro's first one (Turismo) gives you fits, do Fire Truck missions until the car you extinguish is a white-and-red sports car (the Yakuza Stinger), which has the best handling in the game... use THAT to outrun the Diablos.

jeff. You will learn to hate El Burro. With a passion.

Yeah, I took care of him. I did it the obvious way - sprinted over to his ass, blew him away, took his getaway car and broke records for "getting the fuck away". :)

I've actually gotten a lot of missions done for Joey, but I pretty much skipped that goddamn laundromat truck one because it was fucking me up so bad.

One of my favorites was the getaway with the body in the trunk. I knew something was gonna be up ('cause they wouldn't put that simple a mission at that point in the game), but I wasn't sure what. When I saw a guy in the car sitting in the parking lot I figured he was a baddie. So, I parked my car in front of him, grabbed the car with the body and tried to make my getaway. I didn't make it the first two times, but on the second one I managed to find a way to lose the dudes following you every time, guaranteed (or at least it worked for me the two times I tried it). Go up that grass bit on the left and just fucking ramp, but kinda hit it on the right. They'll hit it on the right too and wreck their car, but you go left and then just haul ass across all the medians and whatnot.

Yeah, I didn't win the first el Burro mission, which was that first race. I had a Diablo car (hehe), but it fuckin' sucked ass. My current favorite is the Mafia Sentinel, but those are a bitch to get and it's hard to keep them in a decent condition after you do ('cause you're getting rammed by other mafia dudes). Ugh. Still, it's a pretty slick car all around.

Where can I pick up a Fire Truck? Man, I love taxi-ing. Hehe.

Yep, in Dead Skunk in the Trunk, that's a Forelli brother sitting in the parking lot. So instead of blocking him in, park a nice big car right next to his and BLOW IT UP! You can't blow up the Forelli vehicle directly (i.e. with your own weapons), but the explosion from another car will carry over, and voila, one less Forelli to outrun.

Better yet, let the Forellis whack you from behind until your trunk falls off. The corpse will be visible. :) (Pity that it's a Manana, or I'd keep it.)

Mafia Sentinels are actually among the easiest cars to get, if you know how (or, more properly, where). Go to the top of the hill in Saint Mark's, and take the offroad path leading to a large mansion. There are two Mafia Sentinels (free of charge and unlocked) in front of this building at all times. That should give you a hint as to whose mansion that is, but the big Don doesn't believe in car alarms... They're reasonable all-around vehicles, but there are certainly better ones.

The Fire Truck is in the north end of Portland -- Harwood, I think. It's not too far from the auto dealership (where you can usually steal a Banshee, which is lightning-quick) and across from the gas station. Grab it, turn on the vehicle missions, and you'll get to drive recklessly around Portland putting out car fires. The type of car that you extinguish is randomly generated -- you can get good stuff like Cheetahs, Stingers, Yakuza Stingers, Infernuses, etc., or oddball vehicles like the Mr. Whoopee ice cream van or the Trashmaster. Again, the Stingers are highly recommended for Turismo, as they handle and powerslide like a dream and have a good top speed, though it may take a lot of missions to find one.

Oh yeah -- complete 100 taxi missions (not in a row) for a pleasant surprise...

Yes, I've had the visible course. My first run, actually. I managed to get to the squashing facility with a battered car but they took me out somehow. I forget exactly how it happened.

Man, I can't wait to get home and play now. I think I need to take tomorrow off and just stay home and play games. God that would be a good day. Kinda like every Saturday. Hehe. :)

im weaning myself back in... any objections, voice them now.

:)

personally, the only realy game i consistantly enjoy is tetris. i dont know why. probably because its sort of somewhat kind of educational. i have tetris worlds for game boy advance, only game i own. it was a birthday present, and an enjoyable one. unlike the dangly (sp?) cat earrings my aunt bought me...

i enjoy playing soul calibur. it is good fun. i like watching people play more though, because i suck at video games. and its no fun when you are getting your ass kicked EVERY TIME you play against someone. i have beat soul calibur a few times, though, so im not completely frustrated with that yet.

ill admit it, i can be a sore loser. :)

tony hawk's pro skater 3 seems pretty fun from what ive played of it so far. i even made my own character. thats neat. but i havent played it enugh to know if im going to hate it yet.

as far as grand theft auto goes... just watching david play it has warped my driving ability. i dont think i could ever play it, because im afraid one day out on the beltway ill slip into game mode and jump out of my car and start beating the crap out of some asshole.

not that they wouldnt deserve it. :)

Man, I just busted out a 140,000+ point grind combo on the Airport level in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Damn that was a fine ass move. 4 manuals, a ton of grinds and a "Sick!" score. Daaaaaaaaaamn right. :)

I think I want to concentrate on Tony Hawk for a while, but every once in a while just take a day and play Grand Theft Auto 3. Like. Saturday. :) Man. I didn't get to play it tonight, mainly because I had a Quake 1v1 match (I won) and then I played Tony Hawk 3. But I'm definitely looking forward to putting some time into it pretty soon. Thinking about taking Friday off and getting some rest and playing some games. Long weekends are nice and I have almost 3 weeks of vacation in the bank.... Hmmmmmmmmmm.

So after I beat GTA3 like 400 times and I'm the master of Metal Gear Solid 2, what are some other good games for PS2?

Other PS2 joys:

If you're into racing, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec will be your poison of choice. Ultra-realistic auto racing with all the bells and whistles, though a steering wheel controller may help (I haven't tried it myself). Alternatives in the need-for-speed realm include Burnout (which challenges you to drive as dangerously as possible without wrecking, rewarding you with speed boots for close shaves) and SSX Tricky (downhill racing on snowboards).

For straight-up action, Devil May Cry is an adrenaline rush, Twisted Metal: Black is the first Twisted Metal worthy of the name since the second one on PS1, and State of Emergency is an immensely fun (if shallow) Final Fight-style beat-em-up. Onimusha is structurally similar to Devil May Cry and can be found for less.

For some run-and-gun platforming fun, Jak & Daxter has gotten solid reviews (your standard 3D run-and-collect-the-objects Crash Bandicoot clone). A lot of people liked Maximo; a lot of critics liked Klonoa 2, and everybody liked Rayman 2. Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame and Soul Reaver 2 are more Resident Evil-ish and dark.

There's still not that much in RPG-land. Final Fantasy X is the big dog, of course, and I'm not a huge FF fan so I didn't get it. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was reviewed well. Shadow of Destiny is a quirky RPG with more conversation than action -- it's short, but has multiple ending paths.

For fighting games, there's Virtua Fighter 4, and then there's Virtua Fighter 4. Accept no substitutes.

There's Metal Gear Solid 2, which has its legions of devotees.

And in the What Were They Thinking? category, consider Frequency (music-rhythm action), Rez (a tripped-out polygon shooter that's major eye candy), Gitaroo-Man (points for sheer freakiness) and Mr. Mosquito (which would have to work VERY HARD to be any less twisted).

My own library: Silent Hill 2, Devil May Cry, GTA3, State of Emergency, VF4, Fatal Frame, Monster Rancher 3.

I currently have just <b>Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty</b> and <b>Grand Theft Auto 3</b> for PS2. They're definitely good so far. :) It should keep me tied up for a good while. I don't have a whole lot of time to play video games, unfortunately. Work + Jenni (jennofay) + sleep + chores around the house + the need to eat != lots of free time. Oh well.

For Xbox I have <b>Halo</b>, <b>Dead or Alive 3</b>, <b>Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding</b>, <b>Project Gotham Racing</b>, <b>Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x</b>, <b>Rallisport Challenge</b> and <b>Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3</b> (in order that I bought them). <b>Silent Hill 2</b> is sitting at my house but it's Chris' (cornelius). Personally, I enjoy all of the games I have on Xbox (or I wouldn't have bought them), but Tony Hawk 3 is just like heroin. Seriously, it's just purely addictive. Man. I can't describe how amazing that game is. It's just one of those games that I can't put down. I went to bed at like 4 AM last night. All Tony Hawk. I don't really have time to play anything other than Tony Hawk :) Plus, I've already beaten the hell out of Dead or Alive.

Rallisport is definitely a very cool racer. It's on loan to a friend of mine right now, but I'll get it back probably tomorrow. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to play it. TH3 baby :)

Amped is also pretty addictive. It's like Tony Hawk on a snowboard. Except it's not quite <b>that</b> good. :) Don't get me wrong, it's a seriously seriously great game and before I had Tony Hawk on my Xbox (have always had him on my Dreamcast), that's just about all I played. But... TH3. :)

You seriously oughta rent it and try to get into it. I can't think of a more satisfying game. After busting out that awesome run on Airport last night (and ending up with like 360,000 points after my 140,000 point combo), I felt like I had been watching Jesus Christ on a skateboard. I was pumped. I was in awe. It's just one of those games. Man. :)

I think my problem with Tony Hawk is the theme, not the game. I just can't picture myself playing a skateboarding game, because I've seen far too many skateboarders with the IQ of dental floss.

(You know the ones -- there are probably half-a-dozen in your neighborhood, too. They hang out on street corners, jumping up and down on their boards viciously, jamming them into the curbs, and that's ALL THEY DO. No tricks, no ramps, no using them to get somewhere, just flailing and jumping on their boards in an apparent attempt to break them in half.)

Vehicular stunts? I'll take GTA3. Instead of intricate skateboard tricks, I can drive an ice cream van off the top of a parking garage, do a flip and a rotation in mid-air, and land it squarely on top of a granny crossing the street. And THEN get out of the car and pick up the money she dropped. Now, THAT'S COMEDY!

It's not really about it being a skateboarding game though. That's just the vehicle. I'm no big fan of skateboarding or skateboarding games - except Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. There's just something about them. I guess you have to have played them to understand :)

I did a pretty cool trick in GTA3 the other day - I flipped the car, rotated it I think once and then landed perfectly. The game told me it was a "perfect insane jump" or something, so I was happy. :)

dude, paul got 15,000 i think once for a triple insane stunt bonus. in the second city, there is a parking garage you can get a good jump off of. man i want to tell you all the cool stuff. dammit!

Muahahaha. There are insane stunt jumps, and then there are INSANE stunt jumps...

There are twenty Unique Stunt Jumps scattered around Liberty City (eight in Portland, though some are somewhat inaccessible at first). When you hit one of those, the camera goes slo-mo and you get a big cash bonus on your first successful landing. As a free hint, the first one is near your Portland hideout -- look for a concrete wedge near the water and the overhead railway tracks. Look at the long straightaway leading up to that concrete wedge. Look at how the wedge points up and over the railway bridge. Do the math. ;)

As for your garden-variety insane stunts, there are criteria for jump distance, jump rotation and flips. If you surpass one of them, you get an Insane Stunt Bonus. Two, and you get a Double Insane Stunt Bonus; three gets a Triple. If you land squarely, you can get a Perfect (1,2,3x) Insane Stunt Bonus, which adds to the bounty somewhat.

The game can be picky as to what constitutes a perfect landing (or even when it'll give you an insane bonus at all), but vehicular mayhem is half the fun of the game -- the vehicles are generally quite replaceable, so it's a blast just to drive around and see how horrendously you can jump and crash them.

Now, the MOTHER OF ALL INSANE JUMPS is extremely difficult to pull off, and even more difficult to survive without cheating, but it's worth seeing at least once. There's a jump in Chinatown that can put your car up on the overhead railway tracks. If you get there in one piece, you can maneuver your car to a certain position and wait for the train to hit it. Sometimes you're just knocked off the tracks, sometimes you're wedged INTO the tracks... but once in a blue moon, the train hits you JUST right and your car is launched into the sky, spinning like a top. If you aim it right, you can get hit in Portland and land in Staunton Island!

Jen, I think you need to come home and play GTA3 with me. One thing I'm pretty good at is outrunning cops. The other is running over people. :)

Oh yeah, I'm also real ballsy. I'll carjack a cab right in front of a cop. I've also tried carjacking cop cars with the cops still inside, but this never works. Any tips? :)

shoot the cop car first and then hit triangle. that'll get them out, and you can get in before they touch you because actions queue. then you can smash the bodies over and over again!
another fun thing to do is to steal a police car from the station (hit the car door with another car to unlock it) and then drive around the city dishing out police brutality. drug dealers, older women; everyone ends up getting a baseball bat to the face.

jeni's fun to play GTA3 with.
she's the only reason i beat one of the later missions. i sat there moping and complaining until she finally marked the map for me and told me exactly where to find each of the dozen or so landmarks i had to find. best girl ever? yes.

Man, as I was running away from the station after getting busted once, I saw this cop car come speeding and mow down like 10 people on the sidewalk before speeding off. I started laughing :)

That's a good tip about unlocking the cop car :) How hard do you have to hit it? I wouldn't want to damage it too much. hehe :)

that always makes me laugh too. "oh no, he punched someone! quick, run over several pedestrians to get to him!"
as for unlocking the door, i don't exactly recall. i think you DO have to dent the door, but after that, it's yours. not a big deal anyway, as you can get the car fixed for free if you want by just letting it sit in the garage long enough for the garage door to close.

best girl ever? yes.

:)

Jen, I think you need to come home and play GTA3 with me.

david, i think YOU need to come here with dad this weekend and play gta3 with paul and i. YES.

He told me, and I was like "score!"

but... work. :(

If you have no stars, even occupied cop cars are easy to carjack. Just yank on the PASSENGER-SIDE door. The cop will get out of the driver's side and run around to confront you; while he does, you can open the (now-unlocked) passenger door, slide across and floor it. Do remember to do this only where you can floor it, or the cop will bust you in nothing flat, of course...

You can usually yank one from right in front of your hideout -- they tend to drive by a lot, and you can scoop up the car and immediately double back to the Police Bribe icon in your hideout to get the cop off your tail. (You ARE doing Vigilante missions to earn Police Bribes, right?)

The jump I mentioned along the river near your hideout is your friend, as well. Not only does it give you some cash and look cool, but there's a Police Bribe at the high point of the jump. One of the funniest things I ever did was to do the jump with a cop right on my tail -- as it shifted to slo-mo, I watched my car soar over the bridge, collected the Bribe to get the star off my record, and then watched the cop SLAM INTO THE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE. That'll teach him to chase ME.

Originally posted by vsp
If you have no stars, even occupied cop cars are easy to carjack. Just yank on the PASSENGER-SIDE door

I meant to mention that, I just forgot. Not to be outdone, however, I will now make up outrageous lies which include being able to fly the helicopter as well as ways to turn into some sort of monster.

How do I do vigilante missions? :)

just push down the right joystick. you can do special missions in the police car, taxi, ambulance, or firetruck. there might be another, but i can't remember it.

I think we're talking about different things? I've been doing taxi and ambulance missions. What are vigilante missions though?

vigilante missions are just the police equivalent of the taxi or ambulance missions. you chase and kill people.

you have to "get criminals off the street" - a certain number of them. get them off the street, a.k.a. kill them.

I tried that. It was pretty tough.

I'm now on to Salvatore's missions. I just brought Amy or Mary or whatever her name is back from the busted party, then I grabbed some health and went and saved my game :) And that's exactly where I am. I notice he has another mission for me, and I imagine that Tony does too.

I am definitely looking forward to bringing my memory card over there and getting some help on some shit. Maybe Jen could teach me how to find places from anywhere in the city. Still, after having played basically just two days, I think I'm doing pretty good. :) I passed all the recent missions on just one try so I was pretty tickled about that.

Man, I destroyed those three laundry trucks last night in all different ways. The first one I pretty easily carjacked and then just rammed the shit out it until it blew up. Since I didn't get out of it quick enough, I went and got some health :) I was on my way to carjacking the second one when I tapped it at a red light accidentally (oops!) and it just took off, evading me for the rest of the game. I eventually knocked it into a building and it caught on fire. I got out of the ambulance (what I was driving at the time) and ran like a mofo. Both of 'em blew up. The last one was also evading me (tapped it at a stop light! DAMMIT!) so I was banging it up pretty good. I eventually got it stuck with like 3 other cars and my car was smoking real bad. I rammed the truck and it caught on fire. So I took off. My car blew up and then the laundry truck did too. Score!

Jen - I found the Banshee. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. It handles like shit though. LIKE SHIT! So do cop cars. Oh well.

Jeff - So I should get a Yakuza Stinger, take it to Pay-N-Spray to get it fixed up, and then go save with it? That seems like a wise idea. Also, if I leave it in that garage, will it <b>always</b> be there for me? Like say I leave it there, grab a car out front of my save point, go off and do some shit... then when I need it, can I come back and it'll be there?

Jeni says the Banshee handles like shit cause you're not used to it. Once you are, you'll see that it's basically the best car in the game. The Stinger's okay, but not as fast or durable as the Banshee.
By the way, yeah, the garages save any car in them. Even if, for example, you leave a car in one garage and then save in another part of the city, the car will still be there any time you return.

Originally posted by tokenidiot
Jeni says the Banshee handles like shit cause you're not used to it. Once you are, you'll see that it's basically the best car in the game. The Stinger's okay, but not as fast or durable as the Banshee.
By the way, yeah, the garages save any car in them. Even if, for example, you leave a car in one garage and then save in another part of the city, the car will still be there any time you return.

Bah. The Banshee has a higher top speed than the Stinger, but the Stinger has THE best handling in the game, bar none. Driving styles will vary, but when it comes to handbrake turns, I have a much easier time with the Stinger than with anything else -- the Banshee has a tendency to fishtail, though it's about average in that regard. (The Stallion is just plain miserable for precision driving. Try a handbrake turn with a Stallion and you're suddenly doing doughnuts.)

The Stinger is slightly slower in speed and acceleration than the Banshee, but it's pretty close on both counts, and both of them blow the doors of any non-sports-car vehicle in the game. Of course, CPU-controlled cop cars can always reach a speed of (your vehicle + n) if they're so inclined.)

The reason I highly recommend the Stinger (Yakuza or not) for Turismo is because you're rarely going to be at top speed on that course -- there are lots of turns on congested city streets, with three maniacs driving up your tailpipe. With a Stinger, I can tap the handbrake and have it facing exactly where I want it to with a minimum of effort; with a Banshee, I have a tendency to overshoot or overcorrect. Durability is about the same, really (pretty low for all sports cars). If you can handle the Banshee, more power to you, but the Stingers are MUCH more approachable for novice and expert alike (unless you're a Gran Turismo addict).

As for other vehicles, I have a soft spot for Patriots, after suffering through Patriot Playground and Gripped! and learning how well they can climb steep inclines.

As for Vigilante missions, here's a free tip/glitch; get the target vehicle in your sights, then hit Start to pause the game. When you resume with Start, if you're within a certain distance of the target, he'll GET OUT OF HIS CAR and be easy pickings. Squash, lather, rinse, repeat...

I have a new addiction, with a second new addiction sitting in the on-deck circle.

The on-deck addiction is Freedom Force (for PC). The reviews have been great, the documentation is promising, and I just haven't had time to install it yet because I know I won't do anything else for a while. (I do that a lot with games.)

The current addition is Virtua Fighter 4 (for PS2). I've owned VF2 (Saturn) and VF3tb (Dreamcast) in the past, so I'm no stranger to the gameplay, but this one is far superior in several areas:

* Two new characters, each of which is very interesting in design. The sumo (Taka-arashi) from VF3 is gone, which is also a plus.

* Kumite mode is fascinating. It's like being in a Japanese arcade -- you create a ring-name for your favorite character, then face off against a nearly endless stream of opponents with varying skill levels, earning rankings and special (costume) items along the way. Absolute fun, and a perfect way to measure your skill level with your character du jour.

* But AI mode is even better. In this mode, you create a CPU-controlled sparring partner who's a tabula rasa; he or she has no moves, no strategies and no skills. You train the AI by sparring against it (teaching it new moves and techniques), showing it replays and critiquing performance (hitting O to reinforce good moves/trends, X to scold bad techniques and strategies), and acting as his/her coach during live fights (again, O/X to promote or rebuke accordingly). You don't have to be a master to train a master (though it helps, of course). This is a wonderful new dimension for fighting games, and one I'd love to see repeated elsewhere -- even if I am beating my head on the wall occasionally, trying to get my Lion AI to break out of some bad habits.

Best... fighter... ever.

Driving styles will vary, but when it comes to handbrake turns, I have a much easier time with the Stinger

and we have a much easier time with the banshee. case closed.

Originally posted by jeni


and we have a much easier time with the banshee. case closed.

Well, I'm happy for you, though there's no reason to be snippy about it. I will say that you're the first person I've heard from who thinks the Banshee is easier to powerslide with than the Yakuza Stinger, however.

Just to make sure, I looked up the vehicle stats on GameFAQs. The Banshee and Yakuza Stinger have the exact same mass, resistance to damage, number of gears and maximum speed. (The plain Stinger is slightly lighter and easier to damage, but has identical speed stats.) The Banshee is front-wheel drive and has slightly higher acceleration (about 10%); the Yakuza Stinger is 4-wheel and has better traction and tighter steering.

In a nutshell, in an urban environment (like the Turismo course) with lots of sharp turns, lots of traffic and obstacles and very few straightaways, I'll take better handling over better acceleration any day. If you can keep the back end of the Banshee from skidding during full-speed powerslides, more power to you.

i wasn't being snippy about it at all. it's a difference of opinions, big deal. that's the point. case closed because there's no use arguing about which is better; you think the stinger is, and i think the banshee is. neither of us would ever win an argument, hence "case closed."

I'll take better handling over better acceleration any day.

but...during quite a few timed missions, it is important to be quick. if i can handle the banshee perfectly well while driving it quickly, it's a better car for me. you know the mission where king courtney makes you go from one payphone to the next? would have been damned near impossible for us without the banshee. infact, we only beat that mission with about 2 seconds to spare. of course better planning on a map or something would have helped the case, but it gets to be a pain to try missions 3 times before you can actually complete them.

Originally posted by jeni


but...during quite a few timed missions, it is important to be quick. if i can handle the banshee perfectly well while driving it quickly, it's a better car for me. you know the mission where king courtney makes you go from one payphone to the next? would have been damned near impossible for us without the banshee. infact, we only beat that mission with about 2 seconds to spare. of course better planning on a map or something would have helped the case, but it gets to be a pain to try missions 3 times before you can actually complete them.

I can't argue with the "for me" logic -- we all have our quirks.

I think you're thinking of Payday For Ray as the phone-checkpoint mission (Courtney doesn't have one like that), and yeah, that one does require a moderately fast car. On the other hand, I've been through the game three times now; I finished that mission once in a Yakuza Stinger, once in a Cheetah and once in a Borgnine Taxi, the latter of which has a slightly lower top speed AND acceleration. It's all about knowing the mission -- if you don't know the route, you could be driving a Wile E. Coyote Rocket Car and have major problems. Nobody should be finishing that mission on the first try, unless they're clairvoyant.

Case in point -- the first time I faced Big & Veiny (the last El Burro mission), I must have tried it three dozen times before I finally cleared it. I continued through the game, started over, and by the time I reached it the second time, my driving had improved to the point where I finished it on the first attempt with five seconds to spare.

The reason I went to the stats to support my argument is that it's not as if the Banshee's the _only_ car that's quick. The Stingers, Mafia Sentinel, and Police Car are precisely as fast at top speed as the Banshee is, and the Infernus and Cheetah are faster; the Cheetah, Stingers and Police Car are in the Banshee's class for acceleration, and the BF Injection is faster. That doesn't mean I'd recommend the Police Car or Mafia Sentinel for checkpoint missions, because they steer like a cow; there are a lot of other variables involved.

Anyway, we're drifting from the point a bit. I still say that the Yakuza Stinger is _much_ more approachable for a novice, with the way it hugs the road -- hence I recommended it to a newcomer, instead of telling him to spend the hours necessary to master the Banshee. The Cheetah has all of the advantages of the Banshee and a higher top speed -- have you tried that?

I've tried the Cheetah. I like it a lot, and Paul's brother Jonathan was impressed with my Cheetah skills. But I've been practicing the Banshee a whole lot.

More after I get to work. :P

Well, when I was in Aptos, I played some serious GTA. And I saved about 4000 games. I need to go delete the old ones.

I've decided that I'm going to start the game over and try to make a "perfect" run. Save after anything important happens. No busts. No failed missions. This is with saves, of course. After I get that done and have some serious practice in on the game, I'll try to make an actual perfect run - even without saves, no deaths or busts or anything. Can it be done? I hope so :)

I just had a really cool idea for a jump. On the third part of the city, do the insane jump over the twisted broken bridge with Banshee. Right as you get to it, fishtail it. Maybe get a lot of twists? :)

Anyway... I like that game. A lot. :)

Man. "Bomb Da Base: Act II" is giving me fits. Paul passed it for me when I was in Aptos. I just can't snipe those fuckers that quick. Any tips? Which guy to start on?

Nevermind that. I got it after leaving the game alone for like 30 minutes and then coming back to it. Anyway.

Right now I'm trying to deliver an emergency vehicle (ambulance) to the crane in the north-east end of Portland Harbor. I can't find it (any crane). We are talking about the docks where I waxed Curly Bob and blew up the boat, right? Any tips?

Bomb Da Base is much easier if you get the Adrenaline pill near the entrance to the docks. Sniping in slow-motion is almost unfair.

The emergency vehicle crane isn't too obvious. It's not far away from the garage where you deliver the 16 vehicles in the Portland Docks (and, no, you can't get the Dodo before Shoreside Vale). Look for a shaded rectangle on the ground in an open area near the boat; park an Ambulance or other emergency vehicle in that area, and if you hear the crane start to hum, get out quick.

Seven different emergency vehicles there (Ambulance, Police Car, Enforcer, Fire Truck, Barracks XL, FBI Car and Tank) will earn you... well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

Thanks Homey. You da man.

I know all about the Dodo. I was trying to fly that bish when I was in CA. I've decided that once I get to Shoreside, I'm going to fork into 2 saves - one of which will be dedicated to flying the Dodo and the other which will be dedicated to beating the game :)

There is a way to fly the Dodo, but it's a pain in the ass and not really practical. I'll type it up for you if you want.
By the way, thanks for helping me burn that one cd when you were here. I was struggling with that fucking mp3 for days.

I'm sure there are guides on how to do it online. I just want to do it :) Don't bother typing anything up. If I can't figure it out and can't find anything online, then I'll bug you :)

NP about the CD.

Well, okay. If you ever do want to find help for it online, head on over to Gamefaqs.

Okay. I've now beaten <b>Payday for Ray</b>, the driving to phones mission, about 6 times. My best time was with about 50 seconds left. My worst was with 2. I've played it about 10 times.

I kept re-beating it because I kept accidentally stepping into Ray's mission after coming out and I didn't want to have a failed mission attempt with cops on my ass and everything. After trying that mission the first two times, it became apparent to me that I need a fast and durable car for it - probably a police car. At that point, my Yakuza Stinger had been wrecked and I had a fucking Blista. So I kept failing that mission and it was pissing me off.

Payday for Ray is a lot easier if you know the shortest routes. I've got them memorized now, and I'll write out my guide for it if anyone is interested. The mission was really pissing me off until I figured them out :) Then it really pissed me off by sticking me in another mission. Argh!

Anyway, now that that's done, I'll go do some more Kenji missions. The last one I did of his was <b>Grand Theft Auto</b> so I'm sure there are quite a few more. Wahoo.

If you're talking about a police car for Ray's first mission, there is a way to beat it that involves no car-chasing whatsoever.

Once you throw the grenade or Molotov into the hapless victim's window, he's going to come out of the garage as fast as he can and dart down the alley, right?

So BLOCK THE GARAGE DOOR with a fire truck. Throw a grenade through the window to rouse the target, then grenade the fire truck into oblivion. It'll blow up, and between that and the other grenades you're hurling, the target will be toasted without even leaving the garage, much less getting out on the street for chasing and such.

You'll want to do Ray's second mission ASAP, by the way -- completing it unlocks a store with some rather choice weaponry, one of which in particular makes Asuka's last mission a hundred times easier...

Word up G. Good tips. I guess you learn this from playing through the game 3 times :) Just as I can now do "Payday for Ray" every time, usually with ~30 seconds left. Wahoo.

It took me a few tries, but I got up there to get the bazooka without paying for it. Free weapon is good :) I now have all 11 weapons. Wahoo!

I'll keep going back and killing bums for Molotovs :) Any other easy ways to pick up weapons/ammo without spending my cash?

Hahahahaha. For <b>Two Faced Tanner</b>, I tried it once and after I tapped him had 4 stars immediately. I was like "this is fuckin' nuts", so I loaded my save game, drove over to the area, got out, readied the bazooka, stood in the circle... he comes running out, drives off and BAM! :) Goooood stuff.

I love this game :)

[ Edit - awww, that was Asuka's last mission. Man, I liked doing jobs for her. They were always good fun :) Oh well. Thanks for the tip about the bazooka, though I didn't realize that's the one you were talking about :) ]

Asuka comes back after you finish some other critical missions.
By the end of the game, you will hate her. Fucking coffee mission bullshit.

Tell Jen to call me. I got too into the game to call her back.

I have like almost half a million right now and I haven't done any el Burro missions or taxi or shit like that. Word!

hmm.

Originally posted by dhamsaic
Tell Jen to call me. I got too into the game to call her back.

I have like almost half a million right now and I haven't done any el Burro missions or taxi or shit like that. Word!

Oh dear.

Well, if that's the case, getting 100% completion will be a tad more difficult than if you'd finished El Burro earlier.

By now, you've probably been back to Portland, and noticed the less-than-happy reception you get whenever you get near Saint Mark's. It just so happens that two of El Burro's missions (Turismo and Big & Veiny) are essentially _races_ that pass through Mafia territory -- once against opponents, one against the clock. They're hard enough to finish without hoods trying to blow up your car with shotguns; with them, they are possible, but... well, good luck. ;)

The Mafia are by far the nastiest gang in the game -- the Columbians and Yardies may have Uzis, but they pale by far to the Mafia shotguns for destructive power. Mafia gunmen don't have a strong sense of self-preservation, and will merrily blow up vehicles (as in, yours) at point-blank range.

Any other easy ways to pick up weapons/ammo without spending my cash?

Hidden packages. For every ten you find (there are 33 in Portland, 36 in Staunton, 31 in Shoreside), you get a regenerating weapon pickup at each of your hideouts. The first ones that are of real use are at 30 (Grenades) and 50 (Armor), but it's well worth picking up a walkthrough to make sure you reach 80 (Sniper rifle) by the end of the game. Getting all 100 (Rocket launcher) is just icing on the cake.

Once I got the Armor pickup at the base, I bought around a hundred shells for the sniper rifle from the Ammu-Nation in Staunton, then fifteen rockets or so from Phil's when they became available. That's really all you need for quite a while for the missions -- what you need to wreak havoc around town may be another matter.

BTW, if you haven't been to Shoreside yet, try to snag an FBI car before you do and take it to the Emergency Vehicles crane. It's much easier to obtain one when the maximum star rating is 5 than when it's 6. Getting up to six stars has its own hazards and benefits, of course; the good part is that you can then steal a tank, the bad part is that you have to deal with its occupants and their friends to do so...

Ah, well... I don't plan on "one hundred percenting" the game yet. I wanted to finish all the normal missions without a saved fail. As in, keeping my weapons the entire way through. After that, my goal will be to 100% the game. Which will be damn tough, I'm sure.

How can I buy ammo and not the weapons? If I have the weapons, can I buy just shells and rockets and whatnot?

Ah, weapons == shells, so to speak. I refer to it that way because buying/finding the same weapon twice doesn't change anything but the ammo count.

Without spoiling too much... it is impossible to keep your original weapons the ENTIRE way through the game, even if you completely avoid being killed or busted. ;)

The missions are actually one of the easier parts of 100% completion. For my money, the toughest parts are finishing the Ambulance missions (it's about forty minutes to finish level 12, and you have to do it in one continuous run in the same Ambulance -- no repairs possible) and the Rampages. Some of the Rampages will simply make your brain hurt.

This is more directed at vsp.

I'm looking to get a Saturn so I can play... well, Dead or Alive, which is an import only. I don't have it yet, but I'll get it. My queston to you is this: what do I have to do to play a Japanese game on a US Saturn?

Not much.

Moderately complicated method: With a minimum of soldering, you can install a switch in your system that'll toggle it between Japanese and US modes. If you're at all handy with a soldering iron, it's a snap. (I wasn't, and accidently melted off one of the jumper points -- my Saturn is now stuck in Japanese mode, using the cartridge solution that follows to play US games. But oh well.) I should have the specs on the modification somewhere if you're interested -- it's a six-wire solution, if I'm not mistaken.

Less complicated method: You can still send your Saturn to National Console Support (ncsx.com) and pay them $35 or so to install the switch for you. Shipping is extra, of course.

Less expensive method: If you don't mind having your cartridge slot taken up, you can use a converter cart like the ST-Key or the Pro Action Replay. (The former is a simple country-code-neutralizer that I have used for years; the latter adds some extra functionality, think Game Shark.) I went with the switch because I wanted a memory cart in the slot, and you can't switch carts in mid-session. It was the difference between 16 edit slots and 96 edit slots in SAT Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6 Man Scramble (the finest game ever for the system, IMHO). You can find the ST-Key online for about ten bucks.

Less complicated and expensive, but possibly not as good method: Buy Dead or Alive for the PlayStation. ;)

DOA for PSX is running about $40 which is all good and everything, but it's hard to get and I'm not at all confident that it has the bouncing boobs, which is about 50% of the reason I want the game. The other is the nostalgia factor. :)

My dad is an electrical engineer. So soldering is no problem.

Hook me up with the instructions if you don't mind. I still want to get a Saturn, though admittedly, it's mainly to play Dead or Alive (I think I already said that earlier).

How much are memory carts for the Saturn? I hardly remember any of this shit, mainly because I never had one. Oh well.

Where are you looking for DoA? Amazon has it for $20, I'm sure my local EB Gameworld has it preowned for much less than $40, and I believe the PSX version does indeed have the boingy-boingy. Next time I'm in the area I'll check price and availability. (Where can you find the import Saturn version for less than that, besides?)

Try www.icedragon.com/mod/saturncon.html for a pretty good Saturn modification guide. www.ncsx.com/satmod.html has a similar guide, as does www.gamesx.com/importmod/saturncon.htm.

Saturn memory cartridges are high, if you can find them. The official Sega memory backup cart is 8MB, if I recall correctly, and was priced accordingly; figure $35-40 as a minimum even now. There are also RAM carts (used only with certain import games, mostly Capcom fighters), and hybrid cards like the Action Replay series (which combine country-code negation, Game Shark-ish code entry, RAM in some cases, and "passive" saves (meaning you can't save directly to it, but can only swap files to and from it in the Saturn's memory manager)).

The switch-mod and the genuine backup cart are the ideal solutions, but an Action Replay or ST-Key is a decent short-term solution. (The Saturn does have some built-in save-game memory space, so you can go without an expensive card.) Stay far away from the Interact Memory Card Plus -- like most Interact products, it's a steaming turd.

Originally posted by vsp
(Where can you find the import Saturn version for less than that, besides?)

I can't, but I am one hundred percent sure that the "boingy boingy" is fully intact in the import Saturn version. :)

Amazon doesn't actually have Dead or Alive in stock. Go check again. I don't need to, because I already did earlier this morning. If they did, it would have been overnighted to me a long time ago :) I need to check out FuncoLand or something. I'm not sure of any around me though. If you find it for a decent price <b>with case and booklet</b>, pick it up for me and I'll send you a check to cover cost + shipping + your time. By decent price I guess I mean about $26 or less. That's for the PSX version.

Totally unrelated - I can't help but love my Dreamcast. Am I wrong in thinking that it's a better console than the PS2? Obviously it's not up-to-par hardware-wise, but I just love that goofy little white box. Especially now that everything for it is dirt fucking cheap. I guess I'm partially just really sad to see Sega exit the console business. I had more fun on Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast than I did on all the Nintendo consoles. Man. Nostalgia.

If you have any Dreamcast games that you're looking to get rid of, let me know. I might be interested in acquiring them for a reasonable (read: mutually satisfying) price.

<b>Current Game Library</b>

<b>Xbox</b>
Dead or Alive 3
SSX Tricky
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Project Gotham Racing
Rallisport Challenge
Halo

<b>PlayStation 2</b>
Grand Theft Auto 3
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
Virtua Fighter 4

<b>Dreamcast</b>
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Soul Calibur
NBA 2K1
NFL 2K1
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Q*bert
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Street Fighter 3 Alpha
Virtua Tennis
Sonic Shuffle
Sonic Adventure
Crazy Taxi

<b>Nintendo 64</b>
1080º Snowboarding
Mario Kart 64
Star Wars Pod Racer

I think that's it. I may have forgotten some for Dreamcast: if so, I'll edit them in later. I picked up some Dreamcast games last night, as well as Virtua Fighter 4. I got Gran Turismo 3 when I was in California last week - $20 at Fry's. I'm currently looking for the following titles:

Devil May Cry (PlayStation 2)
Twisted Metal Black (PlayStation 2)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)

I'm interested in, and will probably buy:

State of Emergency (PlayStation 2)
Spiderman: The Movie (Xbox)
Worms Armageddon (Dreamcast)
Worms World Party (Dreamcast)

If only money grew on trees... :)

Oh, hell. If I started typing in my collection, I'd be here for a week. ;)

The only major systems I missed between the Atari 2600 and the Dreamcast were the Atari Lynx, the (non-pocket) NeoGeo systems, and the N64. I skipped the N64 because there's nothing on it that I wanted to play, and the other two just never fell into my lap. (Note that 90% of those systems were bought used and at steep discounts via flea markets, clearance sales, etc. -- I'm not Mr. Moneybags, either.)

Current addiction: back to MAME for a bit, as I just finished filling the holes in my .59 collection. Between MAME, Visual Pinball/VPinMAME and the 400+ Game Boy Advance ROMs I picked up this weekend (insert some arrr! arrr! noises here, mateys! USENET -- when you've got DSL, it's not just a MUD for very slow typists), I have plenty to keep me occupied in the emulation world. Freedom Force (PC) is on deck when I have the time to get into it. Meanwhile, my AI in VF4 (Wolf) is up to 7th Dan, and I'm slowly but surely weaning him of some last remaining unproductive habits.

AI training in VF4 is hard work, and quite frustrating early, but it's very cool when a trainee starts getting the hang of it. The first time my Wolf got hammered early in a Ranking Match, came back with a combo I taught him, then finished the opponent with a picture-perfect Austin-style KICK WHAM STUNNER, I nearly wept. :)

I got an N64 solely for 1080º. It's one of the funnest games I've ever played. Actually, Jenni got it for me for my birthday last year. It came with Pod Racer, and I picked up Mario Kart for some good fun.

I have a lot of stuff for my old consoles, but I was only listing off stuff that I currently play :) Not that I have as much as you do (I saw your webpage, and even that was way out of date), but I certainly have enough to keep busy. Shit, I wish I had the time to play the games I do have. GTA3 is eating a lot of my time right now.

Oh yeah. And all of my consoles have been purchased brand new. Which is another reason I don't have as many :(

"Smack Down" is giving me fits. Every time (<B>EVERY TIME</B>) I manage to get 7 dudes. SEVEN! But not eight. I'm just having trouble finding the dudes in time to kill 'em. And that one that's always in the park is generally a pain in the ass. It's easier to clip 'em on the streets. Argh!

Tips?

Well, it's not really that complicated a mission. Fast and accurate driving (i.e. city knowledge) is the key. Try a few ambulance missions in Staunton for some practice -- they'll help you locate blips on the map quickly with a timer counting down.

Go for the dealers in their order of arrival whenever possible -- if a new arrival's close, nail him, but it sucks when you're ten feet away from an early-appearing dealer and he vanishes. If one's a real wart to reach, skip him and go for another one rather than wasting time getting in and out. Use a reasonably fast car, dodge traffic, and if your first car gets demolished, grab the first wheels you can find to keep going. Just keep practicing, as you only need to get eight once.

Trust me, karma catches up with Kenji later for being so aggravating...

I've heard. I read a little bit of a strategy guide that gave away spoilers in the beginning. Oh well.

I'm now best in the Yakuza Stinger (which <b>is</b> a better vehicle than the Banshee, though I'm pretty adept at handling the Banshee now too), but the Stinger takes like 2 hits and it's gone.

Admittedly, I don't know Staunton as well as I know Portland. Oh well. I'll probably get it tonight.

I found a PSX Dead or Alive locally for $20... but it's disc-only. I'll dig in some of my other sources this week for a more complete version.

Well, I trashed 'em with a Stinger earlier, and with boatloads of time to spare (I drove around for a full minute before all the damn Yardies were off the street). It was the Yakuza Stinger that proved to be their undoing. Currently I have a BF Injection, Infernus (that I carjacked off the street!) and a Cartel Cruiser saved. I don't know when, but I just know I'm going to need that Cruiser later and I have bad luck getting them so I'm keeping it saved. Anyway, I always grab a Yakuza Stinger or a Banshee from Asuka's condo and that generally works pretty well, so that's what I did this time. I ended up just hitting the guy that was closest to me and it worked every time - I didn't miss a single one 'cause they disappeared. I might have just gotten lucky - not sure. But it worked, and that's what's important. Then I killed (not really, as I found out) Ray's partner. And then I had had enough of actually playing so I went back to my hideout on Portland (where I have the Infernus - I stole it in Staunton but had 2 saved there already so took it back to Portland), saved, grabbed the Infernus and started doing jumps with it - man, that mofo is FAST. It handles like shit, but it's fast. Anyway, it gets some seriously good distance on the jump up between the bridges (you know what I'm talking about). And then I started just killing people and getting myself up to five stars, blowing up as many cops as possible and then loading my saved game and starting again. :)

I love that game. :)

BTW, thanks a lot for looking for that. I seriously do appreciate it.

I just know I'm going to need that Cruiser later and I have bad luck getting them so I'm keeping it saved.

no you won't. the cartel mansion is in shoreside vale, and the cruisers are ALL OVER staunton island. trust me.

Hahaha. Well, doesn't matter. I figured how how to get at least 3 cars into my garage in Staunton. I'm going for 4 when I get home, and I think I can get 6 in there. Yeah!

I'm tricky.

I'm about to open up Shoreside, I think. I think that was my last mission for Ray (where I killed the guy laying in the road), so I just have Donald Love to do. I couldn't be bothered with it last night - after running over that armored body cast, I saved and then tried - successfully - to get 3 cars in my 2 car garage. After that, I went and blew people up. :)

Don't get too tricky with your garage. If you cram too many cars in there (or sometimes even when you don't), they have a tendency to disappear without a trace. Most cars are eminently replaceable, but it's aggravating when you've gone to the trouble to obtain a bulletproof Cheetah, and it's gone when you need it most!

Besides, you're not too far away from having a third garage to play with...

(Cartel Cruisers are not only all over Shoreside Vale, but they're common as dirt in Fort Staunton near the construction site. Just go north from your Staunton hideout and drive towards the hospital -- you'll probably find a couple of them. Which is good, since you'll need one for a couple of Donald Love missions. They're not terrible vehicles, but I don't use them much; I prefer the Patriot for gruntwork, with its lower center of gravity.)

Again, if you haven't stolen an FBI car yet, try to do so before you open up Shoreside Vale. The parking garage in Staunton is the best place to steal high-end law enforcement vehicles; the methodology is left as an exercise for the reader.

I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me.

I figure if I can get into it and drive it, I can easily get the 5 stars off me - hey, Pay & Spray! Right out back. Awwww yeah.

Will I actually <b>need</b> an FBI Car though? I drove one in Aptos and I didn't think it was all that swell. Personal opinion though.

Here's why:

If you take all seven emergency vehicles to the crane in Portland, you get a nice cash bonus, AND seven icons on the ground. These icons let you "order" any of the emergency vehicles, free of charge -- the crane will lift one off the boat and drop it at your feet, and you can do this as many times as you like.

In other words, if you deliver one FBI Car to the crane, you can get AN INFINITE NUMBER OF RHINO TANKS slightly later in the game, with zero risk involved in obtaining them after the first one.

Reason enough? ;)

(Without the Parking Garage method, the FBI Car's one of the hardest vehicles to obtain, because the FBI agents are nuts and heavily armed, and when you have five stars they come in bunches. The Rhino is actually easier, IMHO, because it's nigh-invulnerable -- you can use grenades or rockets to take out its guardians without worrying much about blowing it up. Only some of the bulletproof vehicles are harder to get; the bulletproof Cheetahs are a pain, and I've never managed the bulletproof Bobcat.)

Okay. So the seven are:

Police car
Ambulance
Fire Truck
FBI Car
Tank
that funky police truck
???

right? :)

The seven are:

* Police Car
* Ambulance
* Fire Truck (all three readily available all over Liberty City)

* Enforcer (SWAT van: appears at 3-4 stars, or freely available from the police station in Staunton Island)

* FBI Car (slightly jacked-up Kuruma: appears at 5 stars)

* Barracks XL (troop transport, resembles an overgrown Flatbed: appears at 6 stars, or freely available from Phil's Army Surplus)

* Rhino (the tank: appears at 6 stars)

There is a Rhino at Phil's, but it's locked. However, here's a tactic someone suggested recently that I haven't had the time to verify... Go to Phil's, get the Barracks XL, and smack into the side of the tank repeatedly _until the door falls off_. Once it's off, get in the tank and drive it back to your Staunton garage, scot free.

Let me know if it works!

I'll try it when I get home :)

Entertainment/Gaming Consoles or, The Dave and VSP Show

:)

i read a rumour somewhere that gta3 would be ported to the gc so i decided i would just wait patiently. after reading all this im not too sure i can wait that long. are there any other must-own games for the ps2? please dont say final fantasy x.

~james

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is only $20, so you should buy that.

Twisted Metal: Black is only $20 too, so you should also buy that.

Virtua Fighter 4 is pretty tight if you're into fighting games, which I am.

I'm a big fan of Metal Gear Solid, so the sequel was a "must own" for me.

Check out http://ps2.ign.com - basically, anything they give an 8.5 or higher under their "reviews" category is worth owning. Some that are below 8.5 are as well, but it all depends on your tastes.

GTA3 is just awesome.

vsp: When I went to Phil's, the Barracks OL was there but no tank. ?

the only time i've seen the tank at phil's was when we did the mission to rescue him, during which we didn't quite have the time to get the tank open. is it there at some later point in the game?

Well, I just tried it myself with a Staunton Island savefile, and whaddya know, no tank. I know there's one there later in the game -- definitely one when you've beaten the game, because it's unlocked then, but I could swear it's there before then at some point.

However, I will verify a neat little trick you CAN do around Phil's for sure. Go to the docks near Asuka's, and steal a police boat. Steer it north until you're near the barrier. Find a nice low spot, and drive the boat out of the water and up onto the grass.

Now, go get a big vehicle (a Barracks, a Trashmaster, a Bus, etc.) and ram the boat to the other side of Phil's. (You can push it by running into it on foot, but it takes forever.) Once you're on the opposite side of Phil's (and the barrier), push it into the water, and jump in. (Careful -- don't miss and go kersplash.) You can now steer the boat to Shoreside Vale ahead of schedule, and collect hidden packages, etc. In theory, you could have 99 packages before completing a single mission in Staunton Island by doing this. (One is in a location that you just can't reach until you "officially" can get over there.)

Shnifty. I'm on Love's first mission. I should do it, but I've been trying to get an FBI car.

Now, I'm not going to go looking around how to do this. I am, instead, going to plead. You and Paul have gotten them before. I have not. I cannot. I get wasted. Every time. I can get the 5 stars easy. That's no problem. I just get my ass fucking blasted to all fucking hell before I get anywhere near the fucking car. So what's the trick?

In other news, I popped in Virtua Fighter tonight, and though I hate the PS2 controller for fighting games, I'm making it work. Looks like a lot of work to master it though. Oh well. If I get good enough to beat my friends I'll be happy :)

we got our fbi car by doing an asuka mission where the fbi got after us, then waiting until the guys got out of the car, and completing the mission. voila, the fbi guys are gone and you can steal the car because it takes the stars off of your ass. i don't remember which mission it was, though it was at the construction site in fort staunton. anyway, that is how we got ours. it was pretty simple.

My method is a little riskier than that, but you can do it any time.

Go into the parking garage, and do things that'll start raising your police record. You know, blow up cars, snipe pedestrians, block traffic with your car and toss a grenade at the pileup, that sort of thing. Once you get up to three stars, rocketing helicopters will ensure a swift ride up to five.

Get in a car (whatever you can find -- a taxi will be fine), and drive through the first-floor entrance closest to the alley leading to the Pay & Spray. Hang a right, and an immediate right down that alley. Don't go full speed; you want at least one FBI car to follow you. Lead it up the ramp and to the Pay & Spray; when they're close, dive into the Pay & Spray to clean your record.

When you exit, the FBI car should still be there. Steal it; it'll probably give you an immediate star or two, but drive IT straight into the Pay & Spray. (Yes, you can spray an FBI car; it's the one law vehicle that you can do that with.) If agents are between you and the back wall of the P&S garage, run over them for the humor value. Repeat until the vehicle is yours and your record is clean, then drive it to your garage and save it. Then, off to the crane!

I am distracted right now, because I downloaded DAPHNE (the laserdisc emulator) and the Cliff Hanger MPEG-2 footage. I haven't played this game in fifteen years, and I doubt I'll get any sleep tonight. :)

Ah, steal an FBI car. This is some easy task? Like "Yeah, and then just walk on water and it's yours." :)

I'll try it when I get home. Yeah. Finally, weekend. Time for games. Yes. :)

Originally posted by dhamsaic
Ah, steal an FBI car. This is some easy task? Like "Yeah, and then just walk on water and it's yours." :)

I'll try it when I get home. Yeah. Finally, weekend. Time for games. Yes. :)

My method and jeni's give you a fighting chance, because you're attempting to carjack it when the FBI agents are at peace with you (zero stars). There's a huge difference between that and when they're machine-gunning you while three other FBI cars are trying to run you over...

For those of us in the Philly area, this time of year is particularly sweet for gaming -- the Philly Classic show (old-school console and arcade games) is tonight and tomorrow in at the Valley Forge Convention Center, and the Allentown pinball show (the largest of its kind on the east coast all year) is next weekend...

Okay. I think that I've made a lot of progress since the other day. I have an FBI car, I've already wasted my bullet-proof Patriot and those death squads are annihilated.

I'm now on Paul's favorite mission, "Espresso-2-Go". It doesn't seem so bad - I'm not too bad on the timed driving missions, especially with a decent car. However - what's the deal with the dots showing up? Do they not show up until I get close to them or what? That's kinda pretty fugging lame.

You wasted your BP Patriot? Too bad. It's a nice vehicle for the last mission (though not necessary) and for D-Ice's first mission (which is a real pain in the ass), plus it makes the run-over-Cartel-members-by-the-Airport rampage a snap.

The dots do tend to pop up at the last minute. However, they're in the same locations every time, AND the timer doesn't start until you nail the first one, giving you all the time you need to scope them out and plan out a route of attack. (I recommend starting with the one at the Hospital in Shoreside Vale and finishing with the one in Saint Mark's, but you can do it going the other direction, too.)

I think this is what Paul and Jen were talking about regarding "marking the map".

The map is in my head; I do this mentally. I guess I'll just need to find them all though.

Yeah, the Patriot got wasted after I went to the construction site and ran over a trillion Cartel fools. It got blowed up when I was trying to get out. :(

'sallgood, I'll make do with what I've got. Or I'll start the game over again and play through it with more brains and more completely. Though I haven't lost any weapons yet. Wahoo.

I'm guessing Donald Love doesn't come back? I liked him. Hehe.

Originally posted by dhamsaic
I'm guessing Donald Love doesn't come back? I liked him. Hehe.

Well... there IS a sequel on the way. Perhaps Ray won't be the only one who'll "see you in Miami!"

Optimistic release date is October.

Hope the sequel hits Xbox as well. GTA3 could look so much better if they harnessed it.

Well, I've been doing some ebaying to pick up some games I wanted. So far I've ordered

World Series Baseball 2K2 (Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
DOA2: Hardcore (PlayStation 2)

DOA2: Hardcore just came today and the others should be shipping today or tomorrow. Neat! I also got a mouse and a keyboard for the Dreamcast for 99 cents each - I might get the broadband adaptor and actually play some games online. There are still people that do that. :)

I'm still on Espresso-2-Go on GTA3, but I haven't tried it again since the other night. I think what I've been doing is taking Paul's save and trying to beat the game. So far I'm having no luck, but I only tried three time I think. I've got the route to the dam pretty well down, so I'll be prepared for when I get there. Thoughts of re-starting the game and going through to 100% it are running through my head - I know so much more now than I did a few weeks ago when I started it again. I think that would be much more satisfying for me.

I'm thinking about re-working the TV/console area to make better use of space. I have two levels - the consoles are on top and the games are down below, but there's still room down below. The TV is up on another level but that's just there by it's self, so no big deal. Anyway, from left to right, I have the Dreamcast, the PS2 with an N64 on top of it, and a DVD player with the Xbox on top of that (and the video switch for all the systems on top of that). I'm thinking about putting the PS2 down below with the games. I'm also considering sticking the PS2 vertical - but I've heard it can have problems with some games this way. Any truth to this? Do I need to worry about it? Once I get it set up, I'm not going to want to move it just to play a game. I'd rather get it right the first time. Basically, I want to have room to put a GameCube once I get one.

Also - how did the Dreamcast get so many great games and then fail? Sega's upper management must have <b>really</b> sucked. I know Saturn got creamed by the PlayStation - that's understandable. But <b>HOW THE HELL DID THE DREAMCAST FAIL?</b> Man, that still just amazes me. Shit, I still don't think the PS2 is a better console than Dreamcast, save for the controllers, where the PS2 easily whips the Dreamcast (in my opinion). Shit, even the VMUs are better than the damn memory cards. And you can put TWO in each controller! Damn. I still don't understand it. I love my Dreamcast. Jenni likes it to play Q*bert. Hehe. :)

Anyway, basically I'm just looking forward to beating GTA3 pretty thoroughly and then taking on some of these other games that I've got. What's going on in your gaming world?

Originally posted by dhamsaic

Also - how did the Dreamcast get so many great games and then fail? Sega's upper management must have <b>really</b> sucked. I know Saturn got creamed by the PlayStation - that's understandable. But <b>HOW THE HELL DID THE DREAMCAST FAIL?</b> Man, that still just amazes me. Shit, I still don't think the PS2 is a better console than Dreamcast, save for the controllers, where the PS2 easily whips the Dreamcast (in my opinion). Shit, even the VMUs are better than the damn memory cards. And you can put TWO in each controller! Damn. I still don't understand it. I love my Dreamcast. Jenni likes it to play Q*bert. Hehe. :)

Anyway, basically I'm just looking forward to beating GTA3 pretty thoroughly and then taking on some of these other games that I've got. What's going on in your gaming world?

The Dreamcast died because:

1) The first wave of games was okay, with two standouts (NFL2K and Soul Calibur). The next real system-seller (Crazy Taxi) didn't come out for five months. The first US game with network capabilities (originally promised at launch, but not delivered) was a month after that. By that time, the US PS2 launch was mere months away, and Sega quickly assumed its standard crisis-response position (i.e. roll onto their backs and put a big red X on their stomachs with a sign reading "STAB HERE").

The online advantage was theirs to use, and they badly fumbled the ball. Instead of having a sizeable online lineup in the Xmas 2000 season to point to (screaming "HERE's your reasons not to buy a PS2"), they had very little to support it, and Phantasy Star Online (their one and only answer to the FF series) came out months later, too little too late. Shenmue was too little, too late, and was met with roaring rounds of indifference.

2) Sega of USA management was, in fact, dimwitted. I can vouch for that, going back several years.

3) The DC is much more import-friendly than the PS2... but that's always an niche audience. The trick is to import the right games and bring them to the US masses, which is one reason the PS1 was so successful. Space Channel 5 is not my idea of a major game to push.

4) The DC was (and is) pirate-friendly. It's not too difficult for those with broadband connections to download game images off the Internet and burn them to CDs, and use them on unmodified DC consoles. Doing so with PS1 games required a modchip or dongle, and doing so with PS2 games is quite an adventure.

5) Honestly... there aren't that many DC games I've been excited about. I will rave about Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur, the NFL2Ks (though I'm not much of a sports-game person), Fire Pro Wrestling D (best game for the system), and I haven't tried Skies of Arcadia or Record of Lodoss War yet... and after that, I'm at a loss as to big games that weren't also on PS1 or PS2. The Tony Hawk games are ubiquitous, Jet Grind Radio left me flat, VF3tb flopped in the face of 5,3837E+09 Tekken junkies, Seaman flopped, PSO did okay, and then what?

Once the PS2 got a huge foothold and the XBox launch started approaching, it had no chance and Sega pulled the plug.

Man. You hit it in #1. Sega just didn't try. They could have creamed the PS2, I think. They just didn't push it enough. Xbox and PS2 <b>still</b> don't have online shit going. It's pathetic. Dreamcast was ready for that (or <b>should</b> have been) back in early 2000. Man.

Such a great console killed by mismanagement.

It sucks that there are no new games, but it's great that they can be had cheaply now :) I'll have to get Fire Pro and check it out - I've been looking for a good wrestling game for any system.

As far as wrestling games go, the Fire Pro series is unparalled for realism. They're heavy on Japanese text, so FAQs are definitely required to make sense of the menus and such, but if you follow pro wrestling at all, you can pretty much do anything in these games that they do in real life. The Edit mode has an _unbelievable_ amount of depth.

Fire Pro games are unlicensed by the big feds, but use that as an excuse to sample from ALL of them, worldwide. WWF, WCW, ECW, New Japan, All Japan, Michinoku Pro, NOAH, FMW, Toryumon, Big Japan/garbage feds, Osaka Pro, shootfighting promotions, and even Japanese women's federations are represented, and you can create your own (fantasy or real) federations. The wrestlers look and move like their real-life inspirations, but have goofy names -- which can be changed to the real names (in English). Check out the FAQs on character creation in Fire Pro D -- I can't do justice to it, and it puts games like Smackdown to shame.

And how many other games let you drag Hulk Hogan's wrinkled ass into an Electrified Barbed Wire Exploding Cage Death Match or a Fluorescent Light Bulb Board Barbed Wire Death Match, then have Abdullah the Butcher chew on his forehead and stick a fork in his skull?

Originally posted by vsp
As far as wrestling games go, the Fire Pro series is unparalled for realism...


...then have Abdullah the Butcher chew on his forehead and stick a fork in his skull?

We live in very different worlds.

I guess you've never seen the real Abdullah the Butcher in action, then. :)

(The table fork and the bite are, indeed, two of his trademark "moves." He also owns and operates Abdullah the Butcher's House of Chicken & Ribs in Atlanta, Georgia. There is no causal relationship between these two sentences, we hope.)

"I am beginning to love the classic Abdullah; he is nothing fancy, just a fat psychopath who is going to jab this Number 2 Pencil in your head and there ain't shit you can do about it."
-- Phil Schneider

No kidding. I suppose that's another attempt to be mildly amusing shot down. Anyway, thanks for the info. Some forehead sounds delicious just now.

So I'm thinking about buying <b>Red Faction</b> for my PS2. I've read really good things about it (IGN rates it at a 9.1 or something) and it's only $20, which is cool. Gotta love that whole Greatest Hits deal - I have all of them except Dark Cloud and Red Faction, and that's because I haven't gotten around to Red Faction and Dark Cloud doesn't seem like my type of game really. I'm open to the idea though - but I'll focus on what I've got before taking on an entirely new genre.

I spent an hour or so 100%-ing the first two levels in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 with a second skater last night - on my way to completing the game again. I can't even stress how fucking great that game is and just how fun I find it. Infinitely playable. Way better than Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. After playing 3, I find it hard to even go back to 2 - it's that much better. I'm going to be playing that game until Tony Hawk 4 comes out.

I'm still thinking about putting the PS2 upright, and you still haven't told me if you've heard anything bad about doing so :)

Work is fun, so I'm gonna get back to that. But I just really want to get home and play some Hawk tonight. It's good fun.

Ehh. I played the demo of Red Faction, and wasn't blown away -- it wasn't bad, but FPS games are typically better suited to the PC than to the console. But that's just me.

Vertical PS2s are either (a) harmless or (b) a potential cause of games being inexplicably scratched. Choose the answer you like best, because I've heard both and can't verify either.

Well, I've 100%'d Tony Hawk 3 with like 4 characters now. I just had this momentum over the weekend. I did all 4 characters on Saturday, and it only took me a few hours. It was definitely a lot of fun. Man do I love that game.

I did pick up <b>Red Faction</b>. I haven't played it yet; I'll get to it later. But I have it for when I'm ready.

In the last few days, my attention has been with <b>Spider-Man</b> for Xbox. So far it's definitely pretty fun, but I'm not far enough along to say whether or not it's a "great" game.

I also picked up the new Xbox controller. I like it, personally. I like the older ones too, but I can see this one being my choice for fighting games - the directional pad is simply that much better.

No GTA3 in a while - I've just felt kinda burnt-out from it. I played it so much in such a little time and now I've just been hitting the other games. But they've been satisfying so there's no problem there.

Andrea was playing <b>Fatal Frame</b> while she was here over the weekend and that looked like something I could get into - not so much that it's addictive as it looks intriguing.

Games to focus on: Dead or Alive (all versions, all 3 platforms), Virtua Fighter 4, Soul Calibur, Grand Theft Auto 3, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

I have a lot on my plate. :)

Okay, after a week of investigation, realization and frantic downloading, I am officially SOLD on the Dreamcast.

Why? Emulation. Not emulation OF the DC... emulation ON the DC.

I now have a burned version of NESter 6.0, a Nintendo emulator for the DC, with 2000+ ROM images on board. I have a hacked Smash Pack loader with 180 Genesis ROMs on board. I'm working on a DreamSNES disc, though I really don't have that many SNES images (mostly RPGs, and a few oddballs like Jaki Crush). I can follow this with DCStella (Atari 2600), NeoPocutt (NGPC), and a host of other emulatables. Someone took the time to write a freaking SINCLAIR SPECTRUM emulator for the DC. How can I not reward that misguided devotion with a download?

MAME for DC? Why not? It'll even play some NeoGeo games, albeit at reduced speed and without sound. Many older games are just fine. I find the concept of a Sega console being hacked in 2002 to emulate a Sega arcade game from 1981 delightfully ironic.

A million billion stars. Joe Bob sez check it out.

As for mainstream DC games, I've been doing some obtaining of those, too (insert parrot and arr! here), so here's some quick capsule reviews:

Bomberman Online: A very good (if polygonal, which is odd) Bomberman title. You either love or hate Bomberman by now, so I'll move on.

Sonic Shuffle: A steaming turd.

Urban Chaos: A nice concept destroyed by an abysmal frame rate and poor controls.

Dynamite Deka 2 (Dynamite Cop): Pure beat-em-up goodness... for the half-hour it'll take you to finish it.

Floigan Bros. Episode 1: Needs to be seen just for the graphics, which are wonderfully animated.

Gauntlet Legends: I've barely started this one.

Super Runabout: GTA3 has spoiled me as far as car handling goes. I find myself trying to powerslide around curves and slamming into walls instead in this one. Loved Runabout on the PSX (Felony 11-79 in the US), so I won't give up on this one yet.

Power Stone: Frenzied Capcom fighter, nice graphics, haven't come to terms with its complexity yet.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Frenzied Capcom fighter of the button-mashing variety. I can't say I'll spend the time needed to master it, but it's a cute diversion.

Super Street Fighter 2X: Old-school Capcom fighter. The online component won't work outside of Japan, so this is simply SSF2T on the DC. Which isn't a bad thing, of course.

Super Puzzle Fighter 2X: Now THIS is an f'ing game. Classic Puzzle Fighter plus two new modes (one akin to Puyo Puyo, one more like Tetris Attack). I don't mind that I can't go online with it, only because I suck at head-to-head on this game.

Street Fighter 3 - Double Impact: I'd never played SF3, so I'm still learning this one.

Dance Dance Revolution Club/2nd Mix: I watched people freaking out on the dance mats at the Philly Classic convention, and laughed my ass off. I watched people dancing at the Park City Mall arcade, and laughed my ass off. Then I figured "what the hell -- maybe they know something I don't" and gave it a try. Surprisingly addictive, even without the dance pad (though having one makes it a completely different game).

Guilty Gear X: An underrated 2D fighter, gorgeous animation, and apparently there's quite a lot of depth to its mechanics.

Red Dog - Superior Firepower: Heavily armed moon buggy goes nutzoid. Dodgy controls (so far) but somewhat entertaining.

Sega Tetris (Japan): Tetris with a few frills thrown around it, most of which I haven't found a translation for yet.

Fire Pro Wrestling D: Had this one already, but who could pass it up? Best... wrestling game... EVER.

Dead or Alive 2 - Limited Edition: I may get into this one a lot more than I thought I would. Sharp graphics, and some of the most painfully pathological move animations I've seen in years. The Kasumi throw where she leaps up and rat-tat-tat-tat-tats her feet into her opponent's head is hysterical -- sort of like Kim Kaphwan gone horribly wrong. And who wouldn't want to stomp the hell out of a Dennis Rodman look-alike?

Well, I'm slowly working my way through <b>Spider-Man</b> on Xbox. I picked it up the other night (as well as one of the new Xbox controllers and <b>Red Faction</b>) and I've been playing it ever since. The control can get a little wacky (camera-wise - if you play it, you'll know what I mean), but it's still pretty fun. My only complaint is that Tobey Maguire's voiceover comes off as a little dry, but Bruce Campbell's narration more than makes up for it.

I also got <b>Devil May Cry</b> for $25 at KB Toys. They were having a sale and a lot of their PS2 games were 50% off. I've never seen it that cheap before, so I snagged a copy. I imagine it'll be a while before I get around to playing it, but I've got it for when I'm ready :)

Devil May Cry is pretty sweet, particularly at that price. I've got it on hold at the moment -- I reached level six or so, hit the wall in terms of difficulty, figured that I needed to practice quite a bit to work out how to handle progressively nastier opponents (my wife's the Resident Evil-style third-person shoot-creepy-things genre junkie, not me)... then got GTA3 and DMC was thus shelved. Hell, I bought Monster Rancher 3 that week (before Xmas!) and I haven't even started it yet, but I'm weird that way.

Anyway, it's got tons of flash and style it hasn't even used yet and it's a great relief-of-aggression tool, even if I usually end up so involved in launching ghoul X into the air and performing hideous rapid-gunfire-into-sword-thrust combos on him that every other ghoul in the room gets to gang up on me. Ah well.

Additions to the DC Games I've Played Recently pile:

* Worms World Party: Just like every other Worms game you've ever seen or played, in that it's essentially Scorched Earth gone Nickelodeon. No game with exploding sheep can be all bad, though. Surprisingly addictive, but much better in multiplayer mode.

* Pen Pen TriIcelon: THE SINGLE MOST CHIRPY AND UPBEAT GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED. This makes Motor Toon Grand Prix look and sound like Wall Street Week. Muppets-gone-horribly-wrong swim, hop and belly-slide over Arctic landscapes and you get to watch AND control one. Woohoo! Gameplay isn't very deep, but the presentation has to be seen to believed - really hi-res and smooth. Bring some insulin.

* Wild Metal: Very bare-bones tank shoot-em-up; great physics engine, solid controls, not a whole lot to DO that makes sense or is fun. I'm not ready to toss it yet, but it's ehhh so far.

* Chu Chu Rocket: First off, I love Electronics Boutique. They had new VMUs for $11 -- or new-VMU-with-a-GAME blister packs for $15. Four extra bucks for a NIB game? Sign me up. That said, this is a decent puzzle game as-is, but I haven't gotten to play it as it's supposed to be played (in frenetic four-player mode at warp speed).

I also found <b>State of Emergency</b> shrink-wrapped (read: brand spankin' new) for $30 and promptly wet myself (and then bought it). <b>Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero</b> looks pretty good, and that's only $20 at Best Buy (where I got SOE), so I'll get that too.

I've been eyeing SOE for a while now, and though I don't really have time to get into it at the moment, I didn't want to miss it. So I picked it up.

Lots of cheap PS2 games to be found if you look in the right places, which I'm apparently doing. I've now got like 11 PS2 games, and I only paid the original $50 for 2 of them - Grand Theft Auto 3 & Metal Gear Solid 2. And <b>all</b> of them have been brand-new. Yeah! :)

SoE is a raw adrenaline rush, and you paid $20 less than I did. There are HORDES of used copies of this game out there, for a very simple reason -- 95% of those who bought it expected it to be Grand Theft Auto 3 1/2, and were dramatically surprised when it didn't have a quarter of GTA's depth.

It's got more in common with, say, Dynamite Cop/Die Hard Arcade than GTA, apart from a shared sick sense of humor. A raw beat-and-blow-em-up that's good at what it is. (Hints: When you're running low on health, the best way to replenish it is to grab a billy club and plow through a crowd of security guards. Each one you flatten drops a health and/or time powerup, and you get double value for hand-to-hand attacks. The point total goals seem hard to reach at first... until you figure out that when you walk up to the front door of a building and pump in a grenade-launcher shell, good things happen. The sword is useless. Spanky rules the earth.)

I had some mild motion-sickness problems with the Last Clone Standing mode, which only one other game has ever done to me (Gex: Enter the Gecko). Major camera whiparounds. I didn't feel it in the regular Chaos modes, however.

Well, Best Buy is having a sale so a lot of the games are cheap cheap cheap :) I was thinking about getting it a week ago at $50; I'm glad I waited :)

Anyway, IGN is my best friend (not really), and I read all their reviews, which I find to be pretty spot-on. I know what to expect from SOE - they say very plainly that it is not GTA3, and that's alright with me. I haven't played GTA3 in weeks still - like I said, I got burnt-out from it 'cause I was playing it SO MUCH. Even so, I'm down with the sick sense of humor - that's something that I share as well. :) It looks like it will be a jolly good time and that's what I was looking for, so I picked it up.

I'm really not into buying used games unless I can't avoid it. Lots of times you can get great deals, but there are also some lemons out there. I got Mortal Kombat Trilogy for my original PlayStation from FuncoLand and it was scratched and didn't play right. Ever since then I've pretty much tried to stick to brand-new games.

Well, let's see if I can list off all the PS2 games I've got right now. This list has changed a lot in the past few weeks.

Twisted Metal: Black
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
ATV Offroad Fury
Red Faction
Metal Gear Solid 2
Grand Theft Auto 3
Virtua Fighter 4
State Of Emergency
Devil May Cry
DOA2: Hardcore

and Fatal Frame is sitting at my house, but it's Andrea's. She just doesn't have a PS2 to play it on, so she plays it at my house.

Anyway. I want to go home and play around. But I still have hours of work left. Ugh. I should do it and make the time go faster. Which I think I will. Weee.

If you have a CD-burner, a Dreamcast and an ounce of nostalgia, you owe it to yourself to try DCStella.

My wife was somewhat impressed by many of the DC games I've obtained, but she openly salivated when she saw it running Yar's Revenge, Adventure and Haunted House. (I married well.)

To my pleasant surprise, it even runs SUPERCHARGER titles like Dragonstomper and Communist Mutants From Space! I had them all already (thanks to the Stella Gets A New Brain compilation CD), but this is just icing on the cake. It doesn't support paddle-controller games yet, but there's always the next version...

The Xbox is now down to $199, matching the PS2 and the Gamecube.

And I _still_ don't want to buy one.

(When I take out the cross-platform titles and series and look at exclusives, the only games left that look interesting to me are Halo, Wreckless (coming to PS2 later this year) and GunValkyrie. Even the future releases don't look promising -- maybe Shenmue II by Xmas.)

Not that the Gamecube looks much better -- right now it has Super Smash Bros. Melee, Pikmin, and, er... Pikmin?

Don't discount Super Monkey Ball. That game was retardedly fun when I played it, and I didn't even get to the Monkey Pool and shit like that.

Plus, the GameCube price has GOT to fall. Nintendo will have to cut it, probably to $149. I know they're saying they're not going to, but that's what they said back in the PlayStation/Saturn/N64 days too. To compete, it will have to be lower priced. It simply can't compete with PS2 otherwise.

Metroid Prime is really the game I'm looking forward to on GameCube. That and Soul Calibur 2, which is being designed around GameCube's controller.

Halo is seriously an unreal game. Its depth is amazing - the attention to detail will blow you away. Xbox is worth buying just for that. Especially at the $199 price.

If you already have a PS2 and are happy with it, then yeah, Xbox doesn't seem so great. But if you're looking at a next-gen system, Xbox has pretty good games so far and all the cross-platform games are better on Xbox. I'm pretty platform-agnostic when it comes to the big three - PlayStation was my favorite thing in the world, then Dreamcast... right now I prefer the Xbox simply because it plays better (no pop-up, slow down, etc). But I'm not a fanboy zealot type - whatever works best. Which is why I also own a PS2 and will be getting a GameCube whenever the price falls :)

Real big PS2 advantage - lots of games can be had cheaper than $30. GameCube and Xbox still have some catching up to do in that area. Also, now that PS2's controller and memory card prices have fallen, it's looking more attractive - Microsoft and Nintendo should respond with controller price cuts and cheaper memory cards.

Ah... it's a good time to be a gamer :) Now if only I had more time to waste...

A few more quick Dreamcast reviews:

Street Fighter Alpha 3: Now THIS is a goddamn fighting game. 2D Street Fighter goodness mixed with a Soul Calibur-esque quest mode and tons of extras. New fun that feels old-school.

Mr. Driller: About the same as every other Mr. Driller version that's ever existed -- in other words, addictive as hell and fast.

DreamSNES 0.94: A homebrew SNES emulator that's a port of PC zSNES. Lags unless you turn the sound off, so it's best used for RPGs. (Not that that's a bad thing. You can have Chrono Trigger, FF2, FF3, Lufia, Breath of Fire et al. all on one disc.)

Namco Museum: The games are classics, the controls are decent for the most part, but how lame is it that they put six games on the disc when they KNEW they wouldn't have a DC Volume Two?

Neo Golden Logres: low-rent pinball sim, three tables, lots of Japanese. So-so.

Metropolis Street Racer: Nifty racer, though difficult. Win races, earn Kudos by powersliding through turns, marvel at the purty graphics. It's no Gran Turismo, but I can't handle GT's ultrarealistic handling anyway.

Evolution - The World of Sacred Device: Garden-variety RPG.

Evil Dead - Hail to the King: A steaming turd, and I wish that it was otherwise. Nice FMV, horrific control scheme, zero balance in gameplay.

Nightmare Creatures 2: A slight bit better than Evil Dead, but still mindless. Psychotic with axe hacks up zombies, simplistic controls, Rob Zombie soundtrack. Should be better than it is.

Sword of the Berzerk - Guts' Rage: The best of the hack-and-slashers I've played lately. Big dude with bigger sword, crossbow and arm cannon goes nutzoid on mutated enemies, spilling enough blood to fill the Metrodome.

Zusar Vasar: Older Japanese game, kind of a neat concept. Robotic animals pull mechanical chariots in a race and YOU get to drive.

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2: Your first reaction to the word "Sonic" will probably describe your response to these games -- either you'll love them or you'll recoil in horror. Platformers are an acquired taste.

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-919045.html?tag=fd_top

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEAH.

We all knew GTA3 1/2 was coming, but it's always nice to see it confirmed.

In the meantime, since GTA3 for the PC shipped _today_ (though those with non-hefty machines may experience chuggage), I'm keeping a close eye on www.gta3mods.com. It'll be worth buying GTA3 twice if I can roll my own features the second time...

Yet another reason that I have newfound love for my Dreamcast:

The Dreamcast, as you may know, works with Windows CE (which made PC ports a bit easier to translate over). Some demented soul out there in Internet-land thought "The DC runs a form of Windows. Quake has a Windows-native .exe. I wonder if I can port this over?"

And so, QuakeDC was born. The fact that I'm playing it at all is rather choice. (It uses the .pak files from shareware/registered Quake, so as to keep the lawyerbots from id happy.)

I twiddled with it for a while tonight, and worked out that the audio tracks (as .wav files) could be replaced without harm to the product.

I am now playing Quake on my DC with Sifl & Olly's "United States of Whatever" merrily blaring away in the background.

Life is good.

Post linkage. I'd definitely be interested in that. Since I own Quake, I could have the full version. Nifty.

Also, I agree with you about Street Fighter Alpha 3. Street Fighter has long been my favorite fighting game (as I am a mother fucking pimp with Ryu), and SFA3 for the Dreamcast is pretty tight. Admittedly, I prefered the PlayStation version, but only because of the controller. Thankfully, there are adaptors that allow you to use PS controllers on DC. So... Happy happy joy joy :)

Dreamcast really is a great console. Man I love my Dreamcast. :)

I also picked up a PSone and wow... it is <b>small</b>. I got it 'cause I knew it was smaller and I don't have room for my original PlayStation down here. Let me tell you though... imagine taking two DVD cases and laying one on top of the other. That's how big the PSone is. Maybe a bit smaller. It's tiny. Fits perfectly on my table. The only problem is that now I have like... 13 controllers laying around :) 4 for DC, 2 for N64, 2 for PS2, 2 for PSone, 3 for Xbox... good lord. And when I get a GameCube, that'll just be even more. Must have a system.

I've been spending a lot of time on Tony Hawk 3. I know, big surprise. Well, I'm quite a bit better than I used to be, and I now routinely get scores around a million points. That's pretty tight, I think, and it's just off vert tricks. My grind mojo is pretty good too :) I have a bunch of games which I need to get to, but I just lack the time. Hopefully this weekend (which is three days long - yeah!) will provide it. Really want to get into Shenmue - that tops my list.

Anyway, that's about it. I just can't break away from Tony Hawk 3. It's purely addictive.

http://quakedev.dcemulation.com is the best source I've found. It has the non-id files available for download in .rar archives, along with some patch files (JoyMenu 1.3 is highly recommended, and it's a snap to add and compile as it's just an extra .pak file). UnRAR the files, add in your .pak files from PC Quake, compile and burn. (Then hope that your DC is old enough to be CDR-friendly. CDRWs will not work under any circumstances.)

www.dcemulation.com, krypt.dyndns.org:81/dcfactory and www.zophar.net are also good sources of information and source files for Dreamcast emulation projects. I have working Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Atari 800/5200 and Genesis emulators already, and will probably give the Odyssey^2 emu a crack when I get home. I haven't gotten around to compiling MAMEDC yet...

There are a handful of different ways of compiling QuakeDC, some of which are explained on the quakedev page. Non-self-booting versions are easier, but will require a boot disc (the Utopia Boot Disc v1.1 being the most infamous of these, which isn't too hard to find). Self-booting discs require a bit more file-hacking and I'm not going to try to explain it in forty words or less here. The Echelon self-boot tutorial (insert those words into Google for more) does a good job of explaining the process and listing the necessary applications.

Let me know if you need any help or advice (PM me with your email or something, so as not to put it out there for ye olde spamharvesters).

Is anyone else pumped becuase of the price drops of the systems like Xbox PS2 and Gamecube. I am bc i might finally get an XBOX.

I also have a question about Microsoft and XBOX. Why is microsoft losing money on the xbox? are they that dumb or is there something that i havent heard

They need to sell at a loss to remain competetive (price-wise) with PS2.

Some of you might be familiar with Game Stop (or Funco Land, which is now Game Stop). I've always been pretty happy with them...good selection of games, reasonable prices. We have one near us at Franklin Mills Mall (about a mile away), which is pretty convenient.

Now it seems as if Game Stop is expanding like nuts. They've opened several new stores in local neighborhood shopping centers. A new one opens at the strip mall by my house in a few weeks...only 4 blocks away. Sweet! I'll be up there all the damned time. :)

They don't carry PC games though, only consoles, right?

I don't remember if they carried them as Funco Land, but I believe they do now. They definitely offer them through their site.

Okay, here's the deal on Xboxes and selling at a loss:

All consoles sell at a reduced profit margin than games do, and generally at a loss until well into a console's lifespan (i.e. unless it's a breakout hit like the NES/PSX/PS2).

Some reasons:

To a company that produces consoles, the single most important factor is WHETHER THE CONSUMER BUYS THE CONSOLE. If a customer owns Console X, it doesn't matter that much which game the customer buys for it; the company will make some money. (Third-party games bring licensing and console-rights fees. First-party games have higher profit margins, obviously, but the company must also pay for game development, R&D, marketing, etc. for homegrown titles.) If a customer doesn't own Console X, he won't buy ANY games for it, obviously, so getting the customer to buy Console X is the first big hurdle.

The console company is thus not in a position where it can sell these at a high profit margin; it needs to sell them as cheaply as they can to get the maximum number of consoles into homes. More consoles in homes == more incentive for third-party developers to develop for that console == more choices for the customer == more game sales == more sales of overpriced peripherals (memory cards, controllers, etc.) == more money.

The next hurdle to consider is that consoles are generally big-bucks items in their youth, and if a console doesn't succeed then, it probably never will. An Xbox at $299, a PS2 at $299, etc. is not an impulse buy for the typical family; it's a luxury. The lower that initial price is set, the more people will buy it early, instead of waiting for a price drop (during which time other systems and games will be released and compete with it). Nothing new about those prices, btw: the original Intellivision, for instance, cost $249.99. in ~1980 dollars.

The console does not exist in a vacuum. Other consoles will be following the same laws of supply and demand, and pricing their systems accordingly. A console price drop has certain implications. For a market leader, it could mean that the R&D has been paid off by profits, and that the console is becoming cheaper to manufacture due to hardware redesigns, decreased part costs as technology advances, or both. (Hence the revamped, compact versions of many consoles -- Intellivision II, Genesis 2/3, small NES, GameBoy Pocket, PSOne.) It could mean that they're lowering prices to force the hand of other companies to lower theirs, who may not be as capable of absorbing the economic hit. It could mean that they're aggressively trying to add to that customer base, to remain number one even as new systems compete with the existing standard. Or, often, it's a combination of these.

When a non-leading console drops prices, it's generally the third reason above -- trying desperately to get the console into homes, by any means necessary, and taking an up-front cash hit to gain an opportunity to make it up in software sales.

What happened recently went something like this: The Xbox needed a price drop to try to make a dent -- ANY dent -- in the PS2 sales machine. It has been doing so-so in the States, and miserably elsewhere in the world. Word of the imminent price drop leaked, and Sony decided to be aggressive and act (cutting theirs immediately) instead of react (cutting theirs in response). By doing so, they probably gained some sales from people who jumped at PS2-at-$199 without knowing of the imminent Xbox drop.

Microsoft then pulled the trigger on their drop, knowing that their thunder had been stolen somewhat but needing to at least keep pace with their major competitor.

Nintendo then dropped THEIR console by $50, because (for now) their cheaper price is their sole major marketing advantage over Sony and Microsoft. The flagship titles that early adopters want (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid, Starfox) still aren't here, so they had little choice. This is far too early in the Xbox/Cube's lifespans for drops of that magnitude, IMHO, and it'll be interesting to see which of them (or either, or both) gets flushed out in the process.

As for FuncoGameStopLand, it's never really impressed me all that much. If you need something that's moderately old and moderately common, you can probably get it at a reasonable price; right now, that's the likes of a used NES or Genesis. Older systems tend to be dropped like a rock, however, often without warning. (The NES, for example, is rapidly vanishing from those stores.) They keep price listings for just about every game for each system, but they rarely have anything in stock that's the least bit rare or unusual. Likewise, recent releases aren't likely to be discounted significantly (sometimes at all) compared to pricing in the major outlets.

So, if you're looking for a game there, you have a certain window of time and popularity if you want a reasonable shot of finding it in stock. Before that point, you can probably find it cheaper elsewhere; after that point, they probably won't have it at all. Unless the game is very popular, the window isn't generally that long, and finding games past a certain age there is extremely hit-or-miss.

The things I do go there occasionally looking for are peripherals; memory cards, controllers, etc. Once in a while, someone'll trade in a system with some funky controllers, and they'll label them as "Misc Joypad" or "Misc Controller" and sell them pretty cheaply.

(I'm spoiled. We have several Stop 'n' Save Software outlets around here, recently renamed as EB Gameworld to more accurately represent that they've been Electronics Boutique's clearance outlet all along. I live near the very first one they opened in Edgmont, PA, which had some VERY funky stuff for quite some time after it opened. Duo Taps for $.10, TurboDuo games for $5, NeoGeo memory cards, NeoGeo Pocket Colors for $20, a TurboExpress for $50 new-in-the-box, all sorts of clearance-priced systems and merchandise... they're still my best source for used games for all systems.)

Realistically in the end, I would think that the makers really don't have to worry TOO much about making money off the consoles, with the exception of maybe Nintendo. Sony has its 90 quintillion other products, Microsoft runs the computer industry, and Nintendo has the Seattle Mariners. :)

It's not so much a matter of "worry," as a matter of smart corporate decision-making. Even an ubercorp like Microsoft has to look at a product that's funnelling money into a hole in the ground and pull the plug sooner or later, if there are no signs of improvement.

Obviously, Sony and Microsoft have a multitude of other products, and Nintendo has one product line that trumps the GameCube -- the Game Boy franchise. In its various incarnations, the Game Boy has simply destroyed all competitors for over a decade, most of whom were technologically superior to their Nintendo counterparts at the time. (Game Gear, TurboExpress, Nomad, NeoGeo Pocket Color... right now, only the WonderSwan remains, and that only in Japan for the most part.)

But in a three-horse race, the third horse tends to falter quickly. Just ask Sega. The Saturn was quite comparable to the PSX, superior in many ways, but it fell behind (particularly in America) and never recovered. Nintendo skewed younger, Sony skewed older, Sega went after that older audience and ended up canning the Saturn entirely, pushing Dreamcast development in hopes of THAT taking the technological lead. And even that didn't work -- despite the DC having a clear advantage in its modem capabilities and much better specs than the PSX, Sony held its ground, and when the PS2 took over the market, Sega gave up console systems altogether.

The thought of, say, Virtua Fighter 4 on a Sony system, or Crazy Taxi on a Nintendo one would have been ludicrous two years ago. Not anymore.

At the moment, the Xbox is the one on the hot seat, IMHO; they're chasing the Sony audience, and failing, just as Sega did. The wild card is that many speculate that Microsoft is much more willing to take a loss than Sega was, strictly for the purpose of getting a Microsoft gaming-and-entertainment box into American living rooms. Rumors of what the Xbox2 will be like (most of which depict it as more of a minicomputer than a gaming system) are rampant. A lot of that, however, will depend on how the first Xbox fares, and not many of the signs are good right now.

One has to realize that Microsoft has publicly stated that they <b>expect to lose two billion dollars</b> on Xbox. That is some serious, serious, serious cash.

Think about this for a second: Microsoft has some $40 billion dollars in the bank. There are 30 million PlayStation 2's out there. Microsoft could buy every PlayStation 2 owner an Xbox, ship it to them and still have some $33.4 billion in the bank. That's cash.

Then they could buy each of those people ten games to go with their Xboxes (at RETAIL, we're talking) and still have some $18 billion in the bank. And that's including shipping of both boxes to the customer.

Or... a controlling interest in Sony is only $26 billion...

At current rate, Microsoft's bank account grows by around $1 billion each month.

Microsoft is in this for the long haul. They don't care about losing money. They care about getting a good Microsoft product into the living rooms.

Originally posted by dhamsaic

They don't care about losing money. They care about getting a good Microsoft product into the living rooms.

I was with you until that last statement.

They care about making money.

It's not a friggin' religion.

If they cared about getting the best systems into the homes ... they'd have bought Apple years ago, and we'd all have Macs. ;)

Let me rephrase:

Microsoft wants to own the house, and this is their way in.

They want a product in the living room that doesn't crash, works well, etc - kinda like Xbox.

But they're still the minority player in the field. Microsoft doesn't take over and rule every place that they stick their corporate nose into, and they're not the 900-pound gorilla in this arena. It's not to say that a new player can't quickly become dominant, obviously -- else Sony wouldn't have struck it gold with the PlayStation -- but they have one hell of a hill to climb with the Xbox, because Sony already owns that house big-time.

Microsoft has ONE route to dominance, and it's an obvious one -- spending major bucks to gain exclusivity rights to major game companies and properties. When Xbox is the only place for EA Sports, for killer apps like GTA3, for Tony Hawk, for the biggest games coming out, people will start flocking to it in droves. If you're a ten-to-one underdog, how do you convince developers to abandon the market leader and not produce cross-platform products? Money, baby, and big truckloads of it. Even Microsoft may not want to churn out THAT kind of dough, though it is something they do have in abundance...

You bring up a good point, and it's one I've been wondering about a bit lately. That is, why hasn't Microsoft shelled out for exclusivity rights for GTA? Probably because Sony is paying them big bucks, but still... plans for an Xbox version were scrapped (sadly - I would love to see Liberty City rendered on the Xbox) so it's all PS2 & PC now. Another big one would be Tony Hawk, because it's retardedly popular.

All in all, it doesn't matter much to me which consoles survive. There's room for two of them and possibly three, but if not, we'll end up with a cheap console and cheap games for it. Can't say that I'll complain too much about that. :)

--dave, lover of cheap games.

Originally posted by dhamsaic
You bring up a good point, and it's one I've been wondering about a bit lately. That is, why hasn't Microsoft shelled out for exclusivity rights for GTA?

According to the last figures I saw, GTA3 for the PS2 has sold over six million copies worldwide. For reference, that's a very solid 20% of the ~30 million PS2s out there (not bad for a mature niche title), and about fifteen times higher than the announced sales criteria for the "PS2 Greatest Hits" line. (It should reach the other criteria (time of release) in mid-summer; picture the additional sales boost when it goes down to $24.99 then.)

Microsoft HOPES to ship five-to-six million Xboxes worldwide by the end of 2002. How much would Microsoft have to pay Rockstar/Take Two for exclusivity rights to offset that kind of sales loss, and to switch to a console with one-sixth the customer base?

A Windows:Linux and/or Mac::PS2:Xbox analogy would be flawed, but still nicely ironic. ;)

The alternative, of course, would be for Microsoft to attempt to buy Rockstar/Take Two outright and adjust their priorities accordingly. I'm far from savvy enough about the corporate-takeover world to speculate as to how that might be accomplished.

11 million copies. :P

400,000 being the "Greatest Hits" level... I imagine they will double their sales :)

Actually, the press release I saw said six million for GTA3, and eleven million for the entire GTA franchise (including GTA, GTA London and GTA2 for various platforms).

Either way, that's one hell of a lot of games. That's Final Fantasy VII levels, and GTA3 hasn't even enjoyed a price-cut sales boost yet or added in PC-version sales...

Current DC addiction: RECORD OF LODOSS WAR.

I have never seen any of the related anime series, so this isn't a biased plug for the game. Regardless, I'm finding it addictive as hell. It's sort of a single-player Diablo, with better graphics and a nifty equipment-upgrade system.

Joe Bob sez check it out. (Head Hunter's next. And sometime before the end of the year, I'm going to start on Freedom Force.)

paul and i bought a pirate game last night, which looks fun so far. when we get our little place and can play it all night, it will be tremendous fun. until then, we have to use the television sparingly.

I'm heading over to EB this weekend to pick up a new game. Anyone have any info on any of these?:

Medal of Honor: Frontline
Stuntman
The Getaway

No, but check out http://xxxxx.ign.com/reviews.html where xxxxx is your console - ps2, xbox, cube all work. They have excellent reviews and I find them to be pretty much spot-on.

Originally posted by Bil Braski
I'm heading over to EB this weekend to pick up a new game. Anyone have any info on any of these?:

Medal of Honor: Frontline
Stuntman
The Getaway

From what I've heard, MOH: Frontline is a very good FPS -- it's on the linear side (don't expect Half-Life-level flexibility or AI), but very engrossing and vivid. Sorta like being in a good WWII movie -- the plot won't differ much from game to game, but it's a GOOD plot and the cinematography and special effects are solid.

Well, quite a few things have happened in my gaming world. I still play consoles pretty frequently, though I've had less time lately. I guess that's why I haven't written about it.

GTA3 was finally beaten while at Paul's. It wasn't beaten <b>fairly</b>, but it was beaten. I'll go through it soon enough and 100% the game, though I think I'm going to need a walkthrough for some of the packages.

I've been playing a lot of sports games lately and I'm definitely enjoying it. <b>FIFA World Cup 2002</b> has provided a number of hours of fun and I haven't even really scratched the surface of it yet - there are a number of difficulty levels, and beating it on "World Class" difficulty is definitely going to be the ultimate challenge. I think Paul and I <b>may</b> be able to accomplish it in a 2P Co-op while he's here. We'll see. We'll definitely have trouble with it, but I've gotten better since I played it as his place.

<b>NBA Inside Drive 2002</b> is also pretty fun, and I've started a season in that game. 80-some games + playoffs + championships should give me some serious play time on the game... and it only cost $10! You'll have to pay $30 if you buy it at the store though - I gots the hookup. Pretty good basketball game, though it has its quirks - sometimes you'll have the momentum for a dunk and you'll be in the right spot but it'll stop and do a fuckin' jumper. That's aggravating. :)

<b>Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3</b> has been beaten to a bloody pulp. It's still fun as hell though. I've 100%'d the game which is <b>no small feat</b>. I probably have over a hundred hours on the game. I'm now going through it and picking up the little things that don't count - stat points and extra decks. I have most characters complete now - only 5 more to go. That's out of about 20. But every goal for every character is complete. That was definitely a satisfying accomplishment.

I counted up and I currently have 17 Xbox games. Many of these were purchased at pretty hefty discounts, but I've still invested some pretty serious cash in my Xbox. I just got NFL 2K2 at Target the other day (for $17 and change) and I'll be getting into that when I have some time. Right now though, FIFA has got my attention.

I'm up to 13 PS2 games, which I think is a pretty decent amount. Again, most of these were purchased at pretty steep discounts - $20 for a lot of them, even though they weren't listed on the "Greatest Hits" roster. I really want to 100% GTA3, as I've stated previously. The other game that I'm eager to fully get into is <b>Virtua Fighter 4</b>, which I got at a discount thanks to a pricing error. I really really really suck at it right now, but I think that it'll come to me with enough practice. If I spend the time to master all of the characters, it will definitely be providing me with PS2 goodness for a long time to come.

As for the actual console, my original unit died after only a few months of use. The drive tray would shoot out of the console and remain in an open position, unable to close until I powered off the unit. Game discs would not read in the drive - I couldn't play anything. So I took the console back to Wal Mart, put up a bit of resistance to their resistance and got a brand new unit. I'm happy to report that it's working fine. I really really really hope this doesn't happen again. :)

Today's my birthday; last night was the party. I got a GameCube, Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Brothers Melee. Both games are pretty good fun with a friend, and SMB has a pretty good single player game. I haven't had much time with the GC, but I'm enjoying it so far. I plan on ordering FIFA 2002 and NBA 2K2 today, as well as Eternal Darkness, which, I'm told by a friend, is one of the most amazing games ever. We shall see...

Happy Birthday!

definitely pick up eternal darkness. creepy as hell and fun to play. the story is a trip. lost kingdoms is supposed to be good too, i was gonna pick that up next week. rogue leader is another really good gc game.

~james

After hearing some raves about it, I did a little digging through some Eternal Darkness reviews. I have one simple response to the Insanity Meter/Effects: I _must_ get my hands on this game. This makes the Silent Hill games seem like Shining Time Station.

It's a pity that there's really nothing else for the 'Cube (yet) that I'd want to play. Tony Hawk's on PS2 (if I wanted it), Smash Bros. doesn't excite me, and I don't have the patience right now for Monkey Ball, which leaves a horde of sports games (which I don't generally play) and Pikmin in the Doesn't Suck And Might Be Worth Your $50 category. For one game, the Cube's not an impulse buy... yet, anyway.

On the PS2 end, things are equally slow. I picked up Frequency for cheap (Best Buy, $9.99) and am trying to figure out its quirks. Stuntman looks _very_ interesting, and might be a time-killer until GTA: Vice and The Getaway arrive this fall/winter. The Mark of Kri (end of this month) has possibilities.

The Italian Job is on my bought-it-and-need-to-find-time-to-play-it list, as is (still) Freedom Force for the PC. I'm actually getting more mileage out of Final Fantasy V (the PSX remake) than anything else at the moment.

I totally agree that there's not much on the Cube yet, especially if you don't do a lot of your gaming with friends. Most of the fun in Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Brothers Melee is the multiplayer. However, Nintendo now has Eternal Darkness (which, we can all agree, looks amazing) and the other big one I'm waiting for is Metroid Prime, which promises to rock the socks off of everything else. Soul Calibur 2 is geared toward GameCube's controller, which is the other reason I wanted one.

All in all, I think I'll be pretty happy with it as a console... but of course, to each their own.

Originally posted by dhamsaic
The other game that I'm eager to fully get into is <b>Virtua Fighter 4</b>, which I got at a discount thanks to a pricing error. I really really really suck at it right now, but I think that it'll come to me with enough practice. If I spend the time to master all of the characters, it will definitely be providing me with PS2 goodness for a long time to come.

Ooooook. No no no. If you spend the necessary time to master half of VF4's characters, you will be in a nursing home when you start on the other half. ;)

Some are easier than others, of course. Mastering Jerky is a snap compared to, say, Jeffry or Akira, and anyone who can master Shun-Di deserves Congressional recognition and a temple built in their honor.

I'm far from that level myself, so I've taken the next-best route; those who can't do, teach. I've been working on a Wolf AI and plunging it into Kumite mode, with sparring and replays in between to drill good habits into his thick Indian head. He's at 7th Dan and counting, even if he still can't figure out "Catch" throws or go-behind throws 90% of the time. It's a great way to vicariously experience the fun of characters whose combos are too painful for mortal fingers to execute... the first time my Wolf pulled off a toe-kick/gut-punch/Tiger Driver combo smoothly, I felt like a proud papa handing out cigars.

(My big three: Lion for speed and annoyance, Wolf for power and chain throws, Lau for flowing attacks. An Aoi AI is next on my list to develop.)

Originally posted by dhamsaic
I totally agree that there's not much on the Cube yet, especially if you don't do a lot of your gaming with friends. Most of the fun in Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Brothers Melee is the multiplayer. However, Nintendo now has Eternal Darkness (which, we can all agree, looks amazing) and the other big one I'm waiting for is Metroid Prime, which promises to rock the socks off of everything else. Soul Calibur 2 is geared toward GameCube's controller, which is the other reason I wanted one.

All in all, I think I'll be pretty happy with it as a console... but of course, to each their own.

Yep. I'd rather have the Cube than, say, the Xbox. With Eternal Darkness's release, the Cube now has more games I'm lusting for than the Xbox by a one-to-nothing score. ;)

I am definitely more of a solo gamer than a multiplayer type; hell, I have an Athlon 1300 with 768K DSL and the ONLY online multiplayer game I've played on it so far is Netrek, which is the cutting edge of 1991 technology. (Okay, I compiled Dreamcast Quake on it, but that doesn't count.)

Originally posted by vsp
After hearing some raves about it, I did a little digging through some Eternal Darkness reviews. I have one simple response to the Insanity Meter/Effects: I _must_ get my hands on this game. This makes the Silent Hill games seem like Shining Time Station.

without giving anything away, the sanity effects are by far the scariest thing in the game. i actually start to panic when my sanity meter gets low. its been a long time since a game sucked me in like this. the ambient sound is freaky. ive jumped out of my seat more than once because of the sound alone. this is the kind of horror i dig. resident evil was cool, but it didnt really scare me.

of the next gen consoles, i have only the gc (unless you count the dc), and im actually quite pleased with my purchase so far, given some of the stuff thats out now, and what will be coming out. gauntlet dark legacy, super monkey ball, ssbm, pikmin, ssx tricky, lost kingdoms, eternal darkness, spider-man, mario sunshine, zelda, metroid prime, resident evil. my faith in nintendo is restored. i know some of those are cross-platform, but like i said, i only have a gc currently. im gonna pick up a ps2 one of these days, and i might get an xbox mostly because i want to play jetset radio future and world series baseball 2k3.

~james

Originally posted by perth

of the next gen consoles, i have only the gc (unless you count the dc), and im actually quite pleased with my purchase so far, given some of the stuff thats out now, and what will be coming out. gauntlet dark legacy, super monkey ball, ssbm, pikmin, ssx tricky, lost kingdoms, eternal darkness, spider-man, mario sunshine, zelda, metroid prime, resident evil. my faith in nintendo is restored. i know some of those are cross-platform, but like i said, i only have a gc currently. im gonna pick up a ps2 one of these days, and i might get an xbox mostly because i want to play jetset radio future and world series baseball 2k3.

I count the DC. Hell, it's STILL the only console with a reasonable online presence, though the PS2's network adapter isn't too far off now.

The facts that it's very easy to bypass country-code verification (hello Fire Pro), that European versions tend to support 50hz AND 60hz displays (making them US-friendly), and that its games are, er, easily distributable (arrr! arrr! me hearties!) don't hurt, either.

easily distributable. :) yeah, there are a few games i had an extraordinarily difficult time finding. a couple of them i still cannot fathom why they didnt make it to the u.s. super puzzle fighter, fire pro, some of the capcom vs. snk, and the worst offender, shenmue ii.

dc was a great console. based on principle alone, it will have a place on my entertainment center for a long time to come. that and world series baseball 2k2 is still the only game i can get my wife to play on a regular basis. have you ever played sega bass fishing? i didnt really like the game too much until i got the fishing controller. that may be the coolest specialized controller ever.

speaking of baseball, can anyone recommend a good one on the gc?

~james

In a way, Shenmue II did make it to the US. You can buy it at Gamestop (nee Babbage's) at either of two local malls near me. It _is_ a European version, but a boot disc (also sold there) fixes that, and the PAL thing shouldn't be an issue if 60hz is supported.

Fire Pro will never make it to the US in unmodified form. (It exists for the Game Boy, but the visuals were heavily hacked to fend off Vince McMahon's Corporate Copyright Fairies.)

i should probably pick that up. i have discs 1 and 2 in that 'easily distributable' format, but i really do try to have legit copies unless its totally impossible or unreasonable. im one of few people i know that has authentic coas for every ms product i own. oops, i mean 'license', cuz you cant buy software.

~james

Originally posted by vsp
Fire Pro will never make it to the US in unmodified form. (It exists for the Game Boy, but the visuals were heavily hacked to fend off Vince McMahon's Corporate Copyright Fairies.)

SWEET SWEET FIRE PRO. HOW I LOVE THEE! :) :) :)

I unlocked the <b>Monkey Billiards</b> mini-game in Super Monkey Ball. Let me tell you, this could be a game all by itself. It is stupidly addicting. The only game is 9-ball (unfortunately), but it's still a lot of fun. Instead of hitting the ball, you're the monkey and you roll yourself in various directions at varying speeds. Man is it a good time. :)

I've also gotten pretty good at <b>Monkey Target</b> Yeah. All I'm saying is, come over and play me. :)

I haven't gotten <b>Eternal Darkness</b> yet, but I most likely will whenever I've the time to play it. I'm hesitant to sink $50 into a game when I might not have much time to spend with it. Life's been kinda busy lately, so I haven't spent as much time gaming. But when that clears up, ED is on the "must have" list.

lost kingdoms is pretty sweet too. i was at babbages, and theyre taking preorders for starfox, mario sunshine, zelda and metroid. im really looking forward to all those games. i have to admit tho that im a bit disappointed with the current library of games. ive been thinking of picking up a ps2 tho, theres a bunch of games there that i want to play.

My brother sent me <B>this link</B> to a review of the new Blaster Master they're releasing for Playstation. I've never even owned a Playstation but might get one so I can play this game.

The original Blaster Master was one of the best games for the NES. The detail was amazing, the game play was challenging and addictive, and the way that little jumping tank maneuvered was so realistic.

Man, I loved that game. Still have it, in fact, along with all the entire Mega Man series. Maybe it's time to hook up the ol' NES again.

Maybe it's time to hook up the ol' NES again.

where did you find the inner strength to unhook it in the first place? :)

~james

I got my wife hooked on GTA3 this week.

There's something infinitely cool about watching your wife roam the streets of Staunton Island, shooting people at random, then letting the bystanders all run up and look at the bodies "so that I can get the rest all at once with one grenade."

(She doesn't have my animal-reflexes driving skills yet, though. Gotta work on that.)

Originally posted by perth
where did you find the inner strength to unhook it in the first place? :)

Not so much "inner strength", as lack of additional inputs!

Time to buy another splitter I guess..

For what it's worth, Pelican makes one that simply rocks -- five inputs with push-button switching and full S-Video support, for twenty bucks.

I have one on both TVs in my apartment.

And I have 2 of them on 1 TV in my basement. :)

They have 'em at Wal*Mart. If you're having real trouble, email me and I'll pick one up for you. They have little nameplates for each system (GameCube, XBOX, PlayStation 2, PlayStation, DVD, Other, etc). Figure $20 + ~$5-6 shipping (they kinda heavy). They're nice. Seriously. If Wal*Mart near you doesn't have 'em, lemme know. I'll get you hooked up. :)

C'mon, Dave.. some wimpy little $20 splitter? I'm disappointed in you.

This is a perfect excuse to buy a new $1500 THX-certified Dolby Digital receiver with a dozen inputs, if I've ever heard one. Thanks for the offer though. :)

I purchased Splinter Cell for my Xbox this weekend. The game is great. No mindless violence of any sort so far. It's a thinking man/womans game. It takes what made Metal Gear Solid a great game, took out the drawn out story line element added an amazing camera system and introduced some truly incredible lighting. I can't say I've played a game this difficult in a long time. If you have an Xbox I recommend at least renting it. It will drive you crazy, it's not an easy game.

Couple things going on in the gaming front...

First, I've bought a ton of games. And I've played a lot. And man, are some of 'em good. I'll get an updated list up here in the next few days.

Second, I brought my Sega Genesis and Nintendo Entertainment System home and hooked them up. I now have these consoles on my TV:

-NES
-Genesis
-PlayStation
-Nintendo 64
-Dreamcast
-PlayStation 2
-Xbox
-GameCube

I have been playing a lot of Super Mario Brothers 3, and I'm loving it just as much as I always have. Man it's a great game.

Third, I got a multitap for my PS2, as well as an extra controller. I've been playing GTA Vice City as well as Tekken Tag Tournament (only $20 now!) and I'm having a good time. PS2 is definitely a tight console, but I think I like my Cube more.

Fourth, I just won an auction for a Sega GameGear and 7 games on eBay. Including shipping and insurance, it came out to $31.50, which isn't too bad. I'd always wanted one, and now I'll have one. Weeee!

And finally, I sure do wish I had more time to just sit and play games. :)

what, no SNES?

~james

GTA Vice is everything I expected it to be. I'm at around 90% complete right now, trying desperately to figure out which Unique Jump I'm missing. (You get the same slo-mo animation for "unique jump you've already gotten credit for" and "unique jump you haven't gotten credit for, but you didn't land exactly where you're supposed to land.")

I put Legaia 2 and Kingdom Hearts on my Xmas list as my next PS2 time-killers.

I'm considering Metroid Fusion for the wife's GBA as one of her Xmas gifts... that is, if I can pry HER away from GTA: Vice long enough. I am DYING to get my hands on a Flash Advance backup cartridge, so that I can put PocketNES on it and turn her GBA into the ultimate portable NES machine. Finding one has become increasingly difficult since Lik-Sang got beaten down by The Man, however.

I'm plowing through Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (as has been detailed elsewhere) and am having a blast; I'll probably pick up the expansion set for or after Xmas.

Nothing too much screaming at me on the PS2 release-date schedules. The Getaway (read as: GTA: Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) should pop up next month, and should be worth a look. Star Ocean 3: Till The End Of Time is listed as a hopelessly optimistic February 2003. We'll see. Tenchu 3 is March.

I'm seriously considering investing in a gamecube when the new Zelda comes out. I've played every zelda on console besides Links adventure and the thought of not playing the new one is actually bothering me. I love that franchise.

I have Morrowind's main quest nearly completeled on my Xbox but my brother owns the game so I've been away for a long time, but I'm beating the game over X-mas, and hopefully getting splinter cell finished off.

I'm sticking with my playstation. Ever since the release of those awesome arcade collections, my gaming needs are pretty much satisfied. I've been tempted to purchase an actual used game machine, like the ones we used to have to fill with quarters or tokens just to play a game or two. But I figure why bother when I could custom build the cabinet myself to better accomodate the playstation and various controllers, television, a place to rest a drink and ash tray.:)

Not to knock any of the newer game systems, there is even a "crazy climber" available for PS1 in another arcade collection. I think that the Atari collections are the very best though I haven't actually purchased very many of the others. I wonder what Namco was thinking when they designed their crappy formats for pac man, galaga, etc. Ah well, at least they were finally available.

Originally posted by j03L10T
I'm sticking with my playstation. Ever since the release of those awesome arcade collections, my gaming needs are pretty much satisfied. I've been tempted to purchase an actual used game machine, like the ones we used to have to fill with quarters or tokens just to play a game or two. But I figure why bother when I could custom build the cabinet myself to better accomodate the playstation and various controllers, television, a place to rest a drink and ash tray.:)

Not to knock any of the newer game systems, there is even a "crazy climber" available for PS1 in another arcade collection. I think that the Atari collections are the very best though I haven't actually purchased very many of the others. I wonder what Namco was thinking when they designed their crappy formats for pac man, galaga, etc. Ah well, at least they were finally available.

I've been tempted to purchase a used arcade cabinet, buy an entry-level PC, toss MAME on the hard drive, and combine the two with existing software to create an arcade machine that plays over 3,000 games accurately.

But that's just me.

(What're holding me back include: the logistics of obtaining said cabinet, deciding between a standup or tabletop model, the cost of the PC, control panel issues (how to install a spinner for Tempest, a trac-ball for Centipede, a rotary joystick for Ikari Warriors), nagging fears of not knowing how to repair it when something breaks).

The Crazy Climber compilation for PSX is (a) Japan-only and (b) impossible to control with a standard controller. (If you can find the old-school two-joystick controller from Sony, you might get somewhere, but those are creakingly old and like hen's teeth to find.) There are also other Crazy Climber comps out there, like the updated Hyper Crazy Climber, which suffer similarly.

People are actually doing that, though, aren't they? Have plans been posted and stuff?

Y'know, you and me, we oughta put our heads together because if we do that we may be able to both 1) install a car stereo for your wife and 2) build custom game consoles for profit. All we need are Griff's tool cabinet and some time.

Originally posted by vsp
I've been tempted to purchase a used arcade cabinet, buy an entry-level PC, toss MAME on the hard drive, and combine the two with existing software to create an arcade machine that plays over 3,000 games accurately.

ive been working on this for a while, except im going to build a cocktail (sit down) cabinet. hardware for this sort of thing can be found here.

i have to learn to solder before i can do anything effectively, so i doubt ill ever get around to finishing, but its neat to think about.

~james

You could find it at e-bay, including a japanese formated ps1. I agree that it is mind blowing to try to configure a "cabinet" for video games to include one of every controller available. Personally speaking, I like YOUR ideas much better even though I'm not much into computers but the idea of a mega-arcade unit such as the one you describe in your vision appeals to me very much.:)

http://www.mame.net/
http://www.klov.com/
http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

first one is the emulator. the second one is because that site kicks ass. the third one is because its useful to poeple interested in building their own cabinet. :)

~james

Originally posted by Undertoad
People are actually doing that, though, aren't they? Have plans been posted and stuff?

Yes, people are. And I just saw one. The front of the thing was festooned with buttons and trackballs, and pots. It was very cool, and was made for use with MAME. I thought immediately of vsp when I saw it.

Unfortunately I'm getting old and forgetful, and can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.

I have narrowed it down to:

1. Some website that features such things. I will keep looking

2. Article in one of the gaming magazines (not a full article, but one of those short cool things this month featurettes that run at the front of the mag)

3. Segment on G4 tv. (Imagine that, an entire cable channel devoted to advertising games. Gotta love it.)

In the meantime ... does anyone know if williams brothers arcade hits is available for playstation (1 or 2)? I have this irrational need to have joust on every game system I own. Sometimes it's just too much hassle to unplug one to plug the other one in, you know ...

It must have been in a magazine. Oh well.

I did find this one though ... http://www.movielocity.com/mame/index.htm

Originally posted by wolf

In the meantime ... does anyone know if williams brothers arcade hits is available for playstation (1 or 2)? I have this irrational need to have joust on every game system I own. Sometimes it's just too much hassle to unplug one to plug the other one in, you know ...

Yes, it is, for PS1. The disc is titled "Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits," and it contains the same six games (Joust, Sinistar, Defender, Defender II/Stargate, Robotron:2084 and Bubbles) found in the original PC Williams Arcade Classics release.

(That was the software release that sent a lightning bolt screaming through the Internet community, inspiring many to start on homebrew emulators of their own. The first was Dave Spicer's "Sparcade," which I still have an alpha release of on my old HD -- the second public demo with six playable games. The first version of MAME (as "Multi-Pac," covering several flavors of Pac-games) followed a bit later; its open-source nature led to it eventually assimilating every other major emulator's games as well. TECHNICALLY, the Mac version of Williams Arcade Classics (with three games) came first, but...)

Anyway, the front is pictured <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1945750762">here</a> for as long as the relevant eBay auction holds up. Good luck haunting your local EB.

I really would have a tough time picking a favorite between the william's disc and atari's (through midway). They both load incredibly fast, have an equally timeless assortment, and are smoothly and easily controlled with the exception of "pong", on midway's. I think I am about to dig my ps1 out of the closet tonight when I wake up, and find a way to incorporate it into my "set top box"/vcr configuration and without breaking anything in the process. That is, if I am lucky. I've been so clumsy lately.:)

There are lots of homebrew cabinet projects out there on the web. (There was even a commercial release, called Ultracade, which was basically MAME at one-coin-per-play with 80+ games plus whatever game packs the owner had installed. How they got around the licencing issues involved in selling this is beyond me, and I believe they're now defunct, but I saw an Ultracade machine in an Ocean City, MD arcade this summer.)

For me, it's more of a time-and-effort issue than anything else, as well as the fact that it'd involve a certain degree of physical tinkering (and, again, I'm lucky if I guess correctly which end of a soldering iron to hold, as high-school Metal Shop was a loooong time ago).

The control panel is, of course, the heart of the unit -- even an awesome game is no good if you can't control it properly. There are lots of issues involved in the design.

While most games involve a joystick and one or more buttons, there are so many oddballs out there... two joysticks (Crazy Climber/Robotron/Battlezone/Assault), a spinner (Tempest), a spinner AND a joystick (Tron/Mad Planets), rotary joysticks (Ikari Warriors/Heavy Barrel/Gondomania), trac-ball games (Centipede), joysticks or knobs that depress or lift (Discs of Tron/Super Punch-Out!), unique designs (the Star Wars yoke). Now figure in driving games (analog steering wheel, analog pedals, two-gear games like Out Run, four-or-five-gear games like Night Driver, complicated setups like Spy Hunter...) Now figure in shooting games (Crossbow, Vs. Duck Hunt, Operation: Wolf, Point Blank...)

Somewhere, the line has to be drawn, else your control panel would be eight feet long and weigh six hundred pounds, with toggle switches to turn various sections of it on and off. But the fact remains that there are lots of games that are in MAME but simply can't be played (or played efficiently) on an average PC due to these issues, and if I'm going to shell out the cash to build an arcade-cabinet solution, I might as well try to accommodate as many of these as I can...

There's also the side issue of four-way joysticks vs. eight-way joysticks. (Some games, like Sinistar, had more than eight directions, but most joystick games were designed more humanely.) Four-way games (Pac-Man) don't respond well to eight-way joysticks -- this is a very common problem with console versions, because the player will hit a diagonal and the game will go crazy-go-nuts at times. Likewise, playing an eight-way game with a four-way joystick is often impossible, and awkward at best.

Vertical or horizontal monitor? Some games use one, some use the other, and that's (unfortunately) not an easy thing to change on the fly unless you're extremely creative with your cabinet design.

Stand-up or cocktail cabinet? The cocktail looks cooler, but generally provides less space for control-panel modifications.

The alternative to all of this, of course, is to buy (or make) a custom control panel to plug into the PC. A lot of companies offer these (the X-Arcade and the Hot Rod are brands that come to mind) as pre-made plug-in joystick panels for the PC, and I saw a bunch at this past summer's Classic Gaming Convention in Valley Forge, some more full-featured than others, most around $400. Retrogames had a review of a cheaper one-player model (under $100) linked recently.

As I said above, the PC release of WAC was the first major arcade-games-on-your-computer release that delivered actual authenticity. When it shipped, I bought it on day-of-release as a birthday present for myself, and cranked it up on my Packard Bell Crashmaster.

I started playing Sinistar... and my old television went NUTS! The volume started shooting upwards, the channels started changing by themselves... this freaked me out quite a bit, considering that _I didn't have a remote for the TV_, and had never been able to find one that was compatible. (I'd bought it from a college girlfriend for twenty bucks; the TV was a JC Penney model from the late 70's, and the remote had been accidentally dropped into someone's drink glass sometime in the 80's and rendered inert.)

I petitioned rec.games.video.classic for help -- I knew the games were intense, but I knew they weren't THAT freakin' intense. The answer someone came up with was that the TV used an ultrasonic remote, as compared to the infrared remotes that are common today. Apparently, WAC's version of Sinistar threw the PC into an oddball video mode that generated just the right frequencies to trigger the TV, causing random behavior.

"Only YOU would find a quirk like that," I was told. I took this as a compliment.

What about a "rolling" control panel, two feet wide and four sides. The connection from controler to unit could perhaps be infra-red? And what if the unit itself could be portable such as the ps1 w/ built in monitor and easily transplanted from "cocktail" table view to stand up console? Oh, this is so much fun.:)

<b>Activision Classics:</b> A pile of Activision's Atari 2600 offerings (think Pitfall et al) for the PS1. This was generally held to be of inferior quality to their Action Pack counterparts on the PC. (There is a newer PS2 disc, called <b>Activision Anthology</b>, that's received better reviews and also includes some cheesy 80's soundtrack music.)

<b>Arcade Party Pak</b>: 720, Smash TV, Klax, Toobin', Super Sprint and Rampage. Smash TV was born for the Dual Shock controller, and some of the others aren't bad, either.

<b>Arcade's Greatest Hits: Atari Collection 1</b>: Tempest, Super Breakout, Centipede, Missile Command, Asteroids, Battlezone. Some control issues, but decent ports of the originals.

<b>Arcade's Greatest Hits: Atari Collection 2</b>: Paperboy, Gauntlet, RoadBlasters, Marble Madness, Millipede and Crystal Castles. Again, control issues hamper this one.

<b>Arcade's Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 2</b>: Blaster, Root Beer Tapper, Burgertime, Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, Spy Hunter, Moon Patrol, and the rare Splat!. Recommended, even if Spy Hunter really needs a steering wheel.

<b>Arcade's Greatest Hits: Williams</b>: Described above.

<b>Atari Anniversary Edition</b>: Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Black Widow, Centipede, Gravitar, Missile Command, Pong, Space Duel, Super Breakout, Tempest and Warlords. Probably a better buy than the above Atari Collection 1, if you can find it.

<b>Intellivision Classics</b>: Activision's other early-console offering. Lots of two-player-only games (particularly sports). Interesting if you liked the console, though there are control issues.

<b>Konami Arcade Classics</b>: Gyruss, Scramble, Super Cobra, Pooyan, Roc'n'Rope, Kicker (Shaolin's Road), Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Circus Charlie, Time Pilot and Road Fighter. Nice variety here, with some classics that've stood the test of time.

<b>NAMCO Museum Vol. 1 through 5</b> In order:
Volume 1: Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Rally-X/New Rally-X, Bosconian, Toy Pop
Volume 2: Mappy, Xevious, Super Pac-Man, Gaplus (Galaga 3), Grobda, Dragon Buster
Volume 3: Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Tower of Druaga, Phozon, Pole Position II
Volume 4: Assault (which does NOT work as you'd expect with a standard Dual Shock pad, sadly), Ordyne, Pac-Land, Return of Ishtar, Genji & Heike Clans
Volume 5: Dragon Spirit, Pac-Mania, Metro-Cross, Legend of Valkyrie, Baraduke

Volume 2 is the best of the five, IMHO, but I'm a Mappy junkie.

That's about all that made it to the States. Other solid collections (Capcom Generations Vol. 1-5, Parodius Deluxe Pack, Twinbee Deluxe Pack, Namco Encore, Namco Anthology, Nichibutsu Arcade Classics, Irem Arcade Classics) exist if you have a modded console and don't mind a little Japanese in your menu screens.

this is the layout i came up with for my arcade cabinet which i doubt will ever really get finished. i actually am planning a cocktail cabinet with only one control panel (this layout) on the long edge, for most games. there will be a simpler control panel on each short edge, a 4 way joystick and 2 buttons, for games like galaga, pacman and other simple games that play well like that.

the buttons will be laid out basically for my comfort, with a keyboard hidden beneath for pc functions. the trackball can be uses to function similar to a spinner and with 2 extra buttons at the top doubles as a mouse. with an 8-way on one panel and 4-ways on the others, i get the best of both worlds. if youve ever played pacman on a machine with an 8-way joystick, you understand why that is so important.

~james

Dave's gaming stuff got toasted as well, didn't it?

Hey!

Yeah, it did. Here are two fun pictures.

http://msdelta.net/~dave/images/house-fire/P0001315.JPG - PSOne and GameCube.

http://msdelta.net/~dave/images/house-fire/P0001316.JPG - The rest.

Both are big pictures; the second one is smaller, Kilobyte-wise, and shows more.

Matt and Giles bought me an Xbox, Splinter Cell and a TV to play it on. I cracked this weekend and bought a GameCube (and saved the receipt, so insurance will reimburse me for it). So I'm working it back up.

GameCube, Xbox, PS2 and PSOne are stupid easy to replace. It's the rest that I'm worried about. N64 units are increasingly difficult to find in mint condition. Dreamcast is seemingly impossible to find brand-new (though I haven't looked super hard at local game shops). Getting an original NES that doesn't need to be blown in is probably not going to be easy. I guess a Genesis in decent condition will be alright if I look around on eBay.

And then there's the games... I had a lot of good Nintendo and Genesis carts that are totally ruined. Ugh.

Remember how much I talked about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3? I probably put over 150 hours into that game... all my save-game data is on the Xbox's hard disk. :\ My CTR save, which was at 100% completion (and involved probably 60 hours of game time) is gone. Miraculously enough, all of my memory cards (except PSOne, which was probably the worst-hit console) were able to copy data. So I have my Halo save, my GTA3 saves, my Super Mario Sunshine and Super Monkey Ball saves... pretty much the one glimmering ray of sunshine in the whole console mess.

But back to what I'm doing now... well, I can't drag myself away from Splinter Cell. Cam wasn't lying - it's fucking great. <b>Fucking great</b>. It is definitely hard (and I'm only on the 5th mission), but it's fun, and not frustrating (though Paul would argue otherwise). I will hopefully beat it in a week or two. I flew through a lot of it this weekend. Or rather, I got a lot done. I didn't really fly through it - we probably already have 20 hours on it. Hopefully I can get it done in another 20? :)

Cam, have you beaten it yet? If so, how was it as a whole?

The local EB Gameworld (Electronics Boutique clearance outlet) has used Dreamcasts for the riproaring price of $29.99, with one controller and the usual cables. I'm in the process of talking a buddy into getting one (FIRE PRO D baybee).

N64s are a dime-a-dozen these days, depending on how picky you are about condition. The fact that they're down to twenty bucks and I _still_ won't buy one should speak volumes about my opinion of its game library. Between the Atari 2600 and the Dreamcast, it's one of only three mainstream systems I've never owned -- I never bought an Atari Lynx for lack of finding a good deal on the used market, and the NeoGeo systems were too expensive (plus, MAME filled that need nicely).

Recent gameage: On the PS2, Legaia 2 was a decent time killer. An improvement on the first in some ways, but very, very linear and somewhat on the short side plot-wise, along with having the First Team Flaw (i.e. an RPG where you can recruit and switch between multiple characters, but by the time you get that option, your original characters have been levelled-up so much that it's pointless to use anyone BUT them. The original Suikoden was the grand high poobah of that trend.)

I'm halfway through Onimusha, and alarmed that I'm _already_ halfway through it. I'm at about 94% and holding in Vice City, and don't have the heart to figure out which Unique Jump I'm missing (since the you-did-this-before animation is identical to the you-haven't-done-this-one-but-you're-not-landing-in-the-precise-trigger-spot animation, I can't tell).

Morrowind was entertaining but got repetitive once I built some levels and skills -- I haven't dug into the expansion pack much yet.

And what game did I probably put more hours into than any other this year? GTA Vice is probably third, GTA3 is second, CARDFIGHTER'S CLASH on the mofo'in NeoGeo Pocket Color gets the nod. Never thought I'd say that, but the game is insanely addictive.

Cam, have you beaten it yet? If so, how was it as a whole?

No I havn't beaten it, hopefully will get it finished off within the next month or so, unless I get in a groove and just rush through the game. School caught up to me the last month before I went home and I hardly touched any games, and when I was home I got into my emulation collection.

PS2 bargain of the day: Wild Arms 3, $29.99 at Target (unadvertised sale, on their discount rack)

Where you at in it Cam? I'm on the 8th mission, and that's all I'll say (for fear of revealing anything) until you tell me where you're at. :)

I did something yesterday I hadn't been planning on.

One of my girlfriends received a GameCube for Christmas. Apparently at some point in the last year she had complained to her husband about missing Mario ... so there it was under the tree, along with a copy of Mario Sunshine.

You know, for a safe for small children to play platform game, Mario Sunshine is DAMN hard ...

So now, I'm resisting getting a game cube.

I DON'T HAVE ROOM!!!!!!!!!

(The reason I got a playstation2 was that I wanted a DVD player, but didn't have space on the TV Cart and justified the purchase because it was also a game system)

The GameCube really is a pretty awesome console. I find it more fun to play than either my Xbox or my PS2. I just bought a new one a few weeks ago to replace the one that got destroyed (luckily, all my games survived)... it's great.

Super Mario Sunshine really isn't all that hard, it just takes some getting used to. Once you master the camera, you'll be fine. Take your time and explore a lot. I have like 14 extra lives now and I think three shines. :)

(You can get a GameCube/Sunshine bundle for $189, which saves you $10, but you'll also want to get a WaveBird as well. I'm told you can find these for as low as $25 if you shop around, but expect to pay $35. It's a great controller. Lastly, you definitely want a memory card, so $20 there.)

I'm toying with the notion of a GameCube... eventually... but for very different reasons.

I am very resistant to the Mario Family of games, i.e. Brightly Colored Objects Running Around And Collecting Other Brightly Colored Objects While Jumping On Top Of And Squashing Evil Brightly Colored Objects. On the NES, I had no problems with the genre, but it's gotten out of hand since. I respect Miyamoto as a creative mind, but I don't play many of his games. Likewise, the other classic Nintendo franchises (Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Mario Kart, StarFox, etc.) don't fill me with tingly glee like they do to the 'Cube's early adopters.

The 'Cube has a fair amount of those, plus a LOT of crap (but what console doesn't?) Animal Crossing scares me as a _concept_. However, it is starting to accumulate a few games that break out of the Nintendo=kiddy fare equation. Eternal Darkness:Sanity's Requiem, the Resident Evil games and such appeal to my wife's love of the survival-horror genre, while Metroid Prime and the Godzilla game are ones I could see myself playing. Not a huge lineup, granted, but I've bought consoles for less, and I can find oddballs like Cubivore to hold me over. Skies of Arcadia Legends is coming, which will fill one of its biggest gaps (no traditional RPGs of any note).

A game in the Fire Pro Wrestling series is reportedly coming to the 'Cube. If it does, all bets are off -- one will be coming to my house. :) (BAM! Entertainment has backed off of bringing it to the States, but the 'Cube is reasonably modification-friendly.)

I already own and overuse a PlayStation 2, so the games that are ported to both systems are out. I'm not a sports-game guy, so those are out.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wolf
I did something yesterday I hadn't been planning on.[/QUOTE. Wolf, you shouldn't require much room for these here files. Someone else has already covered that department for others like you.

Goodbye.:)

As I've stated before, the game I'm really looking forward to is Soul Calibur 2, which is supposed to be out on all 3 but specifically geared toward the GC and its controller. We shall see...

I'm gonna get Animal Crossing for Jenni, and I really want Eternal Darkness and Metroid Prime.

Mario Sunshine is different because it's more "shoot this bad guy with a fun water gun"... plus, I never played Super Mario World or Mario 64 very much, so it's still fun to me. :)

Uuuh ... thanks j03.

I do enjoy the adventures of Mario and family ... and also the Zelda franchise.

I was a BIG nintendo fan, and still enjoy playing my N64. (My sister currently has custody of the SNES, so that she at least has something to play with. I ought to check with her one of these days to see if she's actually using it, or if she wants to perhaps move up to the PS world ...) However, their corporate decision to drop the old systems like a hot rock and promote the hell out of the new one does not give me warm fuzzy feelings. At least Sony continues to support the PSone, and made their new system backward compatible with the old and did not alienate their fan base.

Most of the other games available for the GameCube are not the kind of things I find interesting. Pikmin? Oh man, I would NOT touch that with a ten foot pole. Bossing around seeds? Not for me. Gimme a good sniper rifle and let me pick off targets, thank you very much.

Anyway, there is an astonishing amount of cuteness involved in Mario Sunshine, which includes any number of places where you just HAVE to say, "Oh Gee that's clever indeed!" When there is some little game feature that gives you a reminder of the old NES Mario days ... like the "underground" music every time mario hops into a manhole cover, or the scary rendering of the Pirhana plants in the new version of the game. The graphics were awesomely crisp. But maybe I'm just reacting to the fact that a lot of the games I tend to play are of the dark, brooding, grainy, atmospheric variety.

I am starting to adjust to the new controller configuration, but there are more buttons than I have fingers. Luckily my friend has an 8 year old son who is able to help me through the more difficult parts. I'm actually doing fairly well at his point, and I think in just a couple hours of play I got 5 or 6 sunsprites. The stuff I tend to get stuck on are the "test of skill, agility, and eye hand coordination" stuff ... like those damn races. I'm assuming that in the first race (on those surfin' blooper things) I have to get my course time down to under 40 seconds, which is a hassle and a half. I hated the Slide Races in Super Mario World 64 and STILL haven't beaten the damn aztec turtle in DK64 despite numerous tries and careful reading of the hint book.

I don't see myself getting a 'cube in the next month or two, but now that the bug has bit, It is likely that sometime this summer I'll hit a sale or get a coupon or just say "oh what the heck" and head over to the EB World in the shopping center in East Norriton.

In the meantime, I'm still more than entranced with the many games available for the PS2, so finding time for ANOTHER game system will not be easy. Does anybody know where the damn train has to be in Max Payne when I start my running jump so I can actually land on top of it rather than *splatting* onto the tracks? Is this actually a "bullet time" kind of moment or am I just lame?

I'm likely to set that aside for a bit though, since I got "Fatal Frame" for Christmas ... I played the X-Box version one night and thought it was even spookier than Silent Hill 2.

I'm smack dab in the middle of the Chinese EMbassy mission, having hell of a time with it. Just havn't been in the gaming mood lately so I havn't put in considerable amount of effort into it.

Fatal Frame is nice 'n' creepy. I bought my wife the PS2 version, and had her play with the lights off and the sound turned up. Good stuff.

Looking over the upcoming first-quarter release-date lists:

PS2:
<b>The Sims</b> (tomorrow), for anyone not terminally sick of it by now
<b>The Getaway</b> (next week) -- think Lock Stock & Two Smoking Grand Theft Autos, but more mission-centric than GTA games. Early reviews have been mixed.
<b>Devil May Cry 2</b> (two weeks) -- If you liked the first one...
<b>Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance</b> (early March) -- If you liked the first two...
<b>Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven</b> (early March) -- I sense a trend here...

Cube:
<b>Resident Evil 2, 3 and Codename: Veronica</b> (this month) -- In case you missed them on two or more other consoles.
<b>Skies of Arcadia Legends</b> (late January) -- Aw hell yeah. Classy RPG goodness.
<b>Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc</b> (early March) -- Back to platforming heaven for Rayman, where he belongs.
<b>Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Zelda: Wind Waker</b> (late March) -- No, "Wind Waker" is _not_ a typo.

Xbox:
<b>Panzer Dragoon Orta</b> (tomorrow) -- Return to the series' rail-shooter roots with lotsa eye candy. Looks good.
<b>Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball</b> (two weeks) -- "She kicks high."
<b>State of Emergency</b> (end of January) -- After thoroughly underwhelming PS2 gamers who expected it to be GTA3 1/2...
<b>Phantasy Star Online Xbox</b> (late February) -- For those who missed it on the Dreamcast...
<b>Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick</b> (March) -- It had better be better than Hail to the King, THAT's for sure...

Boy, February is a dead zone, isn't it?

Which Chinese Embassy mission? There are two - 6 and 8. :) I'm guessing the first?

You will have a HELL of a time at the end of the 7th mission, but you'll know when you're there. All I'm going to tell you is to make sure you don't read any guides online (I read one after I had beaten it), 'cause a) it won't help you and b) then you'll feel cheap. :)

I refuse the help of guides ruins the fun, I'd rather struggle through it and get pissed off a couple hundred times before I look at a guide. And your right I'm on the 6th.

Oh boy.

Well, the ending to mission 8 isn't too hard. Mission 9 should be pretty challenging for you - there are two fun shootouts. But you'll eventually get it. :)

I just beat it... man, what a great game. Truly the best game I've played on any console this year, and I've played a lot of good ones. I'm going to re-start it soon and try and explore everything. God it's great. :)

Warned you didn't I ;)

Funnily enough, I didn't realize you had it until after I decided to get it. I first came around to it via the review at http://xbox.ign.com - I totally agree with these guys on just about everything, and when they gave it a 9.6 (second only to Halo with a 9.7), and I read the review... well, I knew I had to have it. When I came back and read this thread some more, I saw your mention of it and I was like "yeah! Another guy likes this game. I <b>have</b> to get it."

After the house fire, Giles and Matt bought me an Xbox, a TV and... Splinter Cell (I had been raving about how I had to get it). After playing it the first time, I was hooked.

The game is truly great in every way. At the beginning, even the training seems stupidly difficult. I started a new game at Level 6 (just to see how I would do) and I flew through the training in about 5 minutes. The game really progresses nicely challenge-wise (though the shootouts in the 7th and 9th missions can be frustrating), such that by the time you get to something, you have learned enough to know how to approach it. Simply put, it's one of the most well-designed games I've ever played.

Everything about it is stunning. As I've said before, this game alone is worth having an Xbox for. It's <b>that</b> good.

Originally posted by dave
Everything about it is stunning. As I've said before, this game alone is worth having an Xbox for. It's <b>that</b> good.

Well, it IS coming to the PS2 in a couple of months, so I'm not lusting for an Xbox just yet...

I have a feeling the PS2 version won't be able to quite capture the essence of the xbox version. The ps2 just doesn't have the lighting cababilities that the Xbox has. And that game relies so much on the lighting that any degrading of it will almost ruin it. It is coming to PC though and we all know that version will kick ass on a high powered machine.

The thing I am worried about in the PC version is the control system. The game is suited perfectly toward analog sticks, both for targeting and for movement. The mouse is going to ruin that, I think.

As far as PS2... yeah, I think the graphics are gonna get hardcore fucked there, which will be a shame, because the game is absolutely beautiful. I think the optimal platform for it would be a high-end PC (see the Über-Über Box thread) with a PS2 controller (I still prefer it over everything else). If the PC version supports the use of external game pads with analog function *and* there's a PS2->PC controller adaptor... that would be how I'd want to play it.

Except that you really want it on a big ass TV to fully enjoy it.

Okay, the ideal setup for it is on a 36" Wega with 5.1 surround (man it sounds amazing) and an Xbox. :)

so i finally picked up a ps2 with baldurs gate: dark alliance. that game is a blast, and my wife will actually play it with me, which is a bonus. i think im going to pick up gta3 in a week or two, and maybe tekken. does anyone know any decent baseball games for the ps2? i was always a fan of the world series baseball games, but that one is an xbox exclusive this year, and im not buying an xbox for one game.

~james

Originally posted by perth
so i finally picked up a ps2 with baldurs gate: dark alliance. that game is a blast, and my wife will actually play it with me, which is a bonus. i think im going to pick up gta3 in a week or two, and maybe tekken. does anyone know any decent baseball games for the ps2? i was always a fan of the world series baseball games, but that one is an xbox exclusive this year, and im not buying an xbox for one game.

~james

Look for All-Star Baseball 2003 (by, startlingly enough, Acclaim) or High Heat MLB 2003 (by 3DO). Approach MLB Slugfest 2003 as you would approach an angry rattlesnake, or a person in robes at the airport who wants to hand you some pamphlets and tell you about his religion.

Baldur's Gate is a good first-wave RPG. I'm in RPG overload at the moment; I finished Legaia 2 (mildly recommended), am halfway through Wild Arms 3 (more strongly recommended) and have Kingdom Hearts (on sale for $39.99 at CompUSA) and Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (found used at FYE for $19.99, OLD OLD school crunchy goodness) on standby.

You can't lose with GTA3, and playing it before GTA: Vice is not a bad idea. The latter is playable without familiarity with the former, but you'll miss many nuances of the sequel without it.

Both Tekken Tag Tournament and Virtua Fighter 4 come cheap these days. I vastly prefer the latter, a fun-to-play-but-extremely-difficult-to-master triumph of game design, but Tekken's pick-it-up-and-play simplicity also has its charms.

Further suggestions provided upon request; name your genre.

well, i like certain rpgs, im very picky there. im very resistant to finaly fantasy x, as ive been unimpressed with the series since ff3 on the snes (well, 9 was okay, but i know im in hte minority on that). i was thinking of picking up nhl 2k3 (i like baseball and hockey games), but what im really looking for are games i can get my wife to play with me. she likes puzzle games a lot. she liked super puzzle fighter on the ps1. i think puzzle bobble is out on ps2, which would be good.

~james

For baseball games this year, EA's completely redoing their game, renaming it's franchise and it's looking pretty promising so far. All star baseball was great on the N64, I havn't played it on the new generation of consoles but I'm sure it's tons of fun.
And if I remember correctly, no time to look it up right now, but I think World Series baseball is coming out on all platforms soon. It was an X-box exclusive for last season but I thought I remember hearing it was heading for all platforms for the new season.

I'd check out some party games(like mario party), I don't know what the ps2 has for them, but they seem to hook everyone, even people who despise video games find them enjoyable once you talk them into playing them.

Originally posted by perth
well, i like certain rpgs, im very picky there. im very resistant to finaly fantasy x, as ive been unimpressed with the series since ff3 on the snes (well, 9 was okay, but i know im in hte minority on that). i was thinking of picking up nhl 2k3 (i like baseball and hockey games), but what im really looking for are games i can get my wife to play with me. she likes puzzle games a lot. she liked super puzzle fighter on the ps1. i think puzzle bobble is out on ps2, which would be good.

~james

There are two Super Bust-A-Move (nee Puzzle Bobble) games for the PS2, which are almost exactly like every other Puzzle Bobble game ever created. (Not that that is a bad thing -- at last count, I own eight for various systems, and that's not even counting the NeoGeo versions I have on MAME.)

Consider Frequency, a music-action game with multiplayer. Those who "get it" find it insanely addictive; I haven't had that epiphany yet, but I am trying to learn. The PS2 is rather short of puzzle games apart from that -- you're left with Aqua Aqua (Wetrix sequel), Egg Mania (so-so Tetris variant) and PS1 games (there's always Mr. Driller).

My wife plays GTA3 and GTA:Vice, but that's my wife, and yours may find sniping and skidding over pedestrians less appealing...

Note for reference: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 is coming to the Game Boy Advance next month. Expect America's national productivity to grind to a halt soon afterwards.

Originally posted by Cam
I'd check out some party games(like mario party), I don't know what the ps2 has for them, but they seem to hook everyone, even people who despise video games find them enjoyable once you talk them into playing them.

Oh, jeez, don't go there. The PS2's lone entry in that field is Shrek Super Party, which is a screeching horror of Biblical proportions. This is where you take advantage of the PS2's backwards-compatibility and dig up PS1 games like Poy Poy, Incredible Crisis, SPF2T, Buster Bros. Anthology, Intelligent Qube or the Point Blank series.

I wrote a long post here, and I <b>swear</b> I posted it, not just previewed. Did it get deleted or did I somehow fuck it up?

Guys, maybe you can help here.

One of my friends has an xbox.

Four of us (all female, and I'm the only one who likes shooting things in the head) get together on a regular basis to play with the thing. On occasion we'll pick a one player game and trade off the controller whenever someone dies spectacularly, but that's not as much fun as hacking away on a multiplayer game.

We had a great time playing (and finishing, much to my astonishment .. not that it was difficult, just that it took a long time) Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.

We are looking for a new game that we can all play together but have thus far been unsuccessful.

We did rent some game that was LIKE Gauntlet, only with better graphics, cool looking characters (basically street punks with magic), zombies, gargoyles coming to life, all the things that make such a game great, but the degree of difficulty was too high for the gang ... when you can't make it out o the first (actual, the one past training) level after 5 uninterrupted hours of playing the game, you get discouraged. I forget the name of that game, but it had something to do with vampires.

Does anyone have any suggestions? (yes, we could go for Mario Party because she has a 'cube, and probably will eventually, but we had kind of gotten into the magickal monster bashing in gauntlet, even if it was kinda lame, so that's the standard of comparison for the other girls.)

Our only type at a fighting game was Xena: Talisman of Fate on the N64, and that only lasted for one session, and I think we only played as long as we did because of the familiarity of the characters. I might suggest trying another fighter if they bring out a Star Wars based one, cuz everybody LOVES a lightsaber, but otherwise, it's probably not an option. These are new age chicks here ... they get upset when people are not cooperative about something. (you should have seen the "no, it's your turn to take the treasure" arguments when we played Gauntlet.)

Bloodrayne?

To actually answer your question, I've had a lot of fun with <b>Fuzion Frenzy</b>, which can probably be had cheap these days. You would almost certainly enjoy <b>Splinter Cell</b> if you can borrow the Xbox from her. :)

If you posted it Monday late night or Tuesday early morning, it's gone.

Could the vampire-hunting game have been "Hunter: The Reckoning"? (from all accounts, a serious love-it-or-hate-it title) That's more zombie-riffic than vampire-oriented, but I imagine you'd remember it if you'd been playing the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" game.

Consider "Deathrow", a futuristic sports game that's sort of a cross between soccer, ultimate frisbee and Rollerball. It's a sleeper that's full of action and is a good multiplayer title, from what I've heard. Apart from that, you know my opinion on the Xbox -- there's not much I'd want to play on it PERIOD, let alone in the multiplayer genre. ;)

I saw fusion frensie at best buy the other day for 15 bucks, I would have picked it up if I had 15 dollars to spare. Excellent game for a crowd of people.

Originally posted by vsp
Could the vampire-hunting game have been "Hunter: The Reckoning"?

THAT's the one. I guess those were zombies. I think they promised vampires, though. The control config was clumsy, and it's one of those games where you shout "I HIT THE RIGHT BUTTON AT THE RIGHT TIME, DAMMIT" a lot ...

If I had my druthers I'd not be playing an xbox at all, but well, I don't. Her husband bought the thing for her two christmases ago, because of the premature demise of the N64 product line (they were one of those nintendo forever families). I STILL wish he'd been smart enough to go PS2 ... they may still end up with one anyway (fingers crossed) because that way I'll be able to take games up to their house to play.

When we were playing N64 this way, we'd show up with our special little pouches containing our favorite colored controller and games ... all four of us had 64s. (which was actually very cool, because of the obvious game sharing possibilties.

Okay. So, here we go...

I bought <b>Metroid Prime</b> NIB off eBay for $26. I got <b>Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem</b> NIB for $23. Each was $5 shipping, meaning I got them at very decent prices. Prime's controls are a little weird, but I'm getting in to it. Darkness is pretty creepy, very well done and looks like it could soak up a lot of my time.

I also got <b>Animal Crossing</b>. It's stupidly simple and the concept is something else but it's actually fun to play. I have no idea how they came up with this. I think Jenni is going to like it a lot.

And for one of my guilty pleasures, I bought <b>NBA Street</b> the same day. I love basketball games, especially the outrageous type (like NBA Jam). Little did I realize, I already have this for my PS2. <b>Oh.</b>

I finally got another PS2 last night, as well as memory cards and controllers and blah blah blah. I had just started <b>Vice City</b> before the fire, and I'm finally getting back in to it. I have a shitload of PS2 games that need to get played. Not enough time...

I bought my first portable game system last weekend. I picked up a silver Gameboy Advance SP with <b>Metroid Fusion</b>. Lemme tell you, Fusion rules. It is seriously good, though very difficult at times. I finally beat it on Friday and am going through it a second time, aiming for a better completion score.

I got <b>Mario Kart Super Circuit</b> off eBay for $17 and I must say, they did a damn fine job with it. I'll be playing over the link cable with friends, which should be a lot of fun.

I also picked up <b>Chu Chu Rocket!</b>, which vsp mentioned before. Honestly, I saw the Japanese Dreamcast TV ad and just had to have it (kinda). Then I read IGN's review and thought "hey, for $20 at Wal*Mart, what the hell." It is <b>hard</b>. It's super fast paced. I think I'll get playing this with Jenni, but even the single player gets challenging very quickly.

So what's really on my plate? <b>Metroid Prime</b>, <b>Metroid Fusion</b>, <b>Grand Theft Auto: Vice City</b> and that's about it. Everything else comes second. Just need more time...

I've been playing FIFA 2003 Soccer. Excellent emulation, fine graphics, good gameplay. About the only complaint I have is that the difficulty levels are pretty diverse. If I ever do well, the Game Assistant chimes in with "you have obviously mastered Amateur Level, would you like to move up to Semi-pro?" Thus flattered, I say "yes", and proceed to totally get my ass kicked by the computer.

I'm having fun with this one, but man, it can be really frustrating. Anyone else play this puppy? Ever play it online against live competition?

I have FIFA World Cup 2002 and I've had a blast with that. I played a bit of FIFA 2003 when Paul and Jen were over in December; it's definitely different, but good. I will eventually pick up a copy for whatever console it's best on.

World Cup 2002 would get stupidly hard on occasion, such as the one game when Paul and I were playing co-op against England on the "Pro" difficulty. They would make impossible shots and block even the best of ours. It was frustrating. We were used to winning like 4-0 or 8-1 and the like, but here we were lucky to lose 1-2.

I think FIFA 2003 is much like that in regards to actual scoring feasibility. It's not every day that you see an 8-0 blowout, so the increased difficulty makes it more realistic, I think.

Just curious, what system are you playing on? I don't (currently) have broadband so I don't have Xbox Live or the PS2 ethernet adaptor, but once I get re-situated, I'll be willing to play.

I'm PC-based, on Broadband. Will the two things be compatible, or is PS2/etc only same-platform compatible, even with the same games?

I don't know. One of the great things id software did with Quake 3 was to make it playable cross-platform, not just on computers (Mac/Windows/Linux) but also on the console (Dreamcast).

I'm a PC gamer too, but I generally prefer consoles for everything except the first person shooter (Q3) - though I'm now getting into Tropico and want to play a few other "building" type games such as Civilization III.

I'll check on the compatibility thing. That would certainly be awesome <b>and</b> possible, but I have no idea whether or not they've implemented such functionality. Unfortunately, I can no longer look up game stuff at work (stupid filter argh) so the earliest I'll know is later tonight, and that's assuming I remember to check.

If Cellarites are going to hook up for multiplayer sports gaming, I swear I will buy whatever it takes to join in or even host.

sports in general, or anything in particular? i was thinking of picking up allstar baseball 2004 when it comes out in a month or so.

~james

I like baseball games OK, I had the High Heat series through 2002. But online multiplayer baseball? Do we really want to re-create the thrilling experience of playing right field for nine innings? Only if we have online multiplayer beer taps!

Online BB would be OK for 1 vs 1 or online leagues. I just think it would be really cool to play co-op with others, where I could play wing or something and assist someone in a flying header for the winning goal. I just think that would be really cool. Unless it was online hockey, in which case a flying header would be a bad idea.

I would be absolutely *stoked* to have some normal, honest people to play MPGs with online. I'm a major Q3 Arena fan, but I fucking hate to play with the scum out in the general world. Too many hacks and cheats for an honest player to stand a chance in hell. I own Q3 and MSCFS2, both of which are just great to play against others online, as well as FIFA 2003. All three support head to head or multiplayer (total numbers vary between games, and I'm not sure what the exact quantity is), and it would be massively cool to hook up with some of the Dwellars for some gaming.

I have no idea what is required of server-side support for CFS2 other than the fact that you can set up a server and then send out the IP for someone to hook up direct to a MP game. Same with Q3. FIFA allows IP hookup as well, but I'm not sure if that is only head to head or not. FIFA has a matchup service, but it sucks as far as I can tell. I believe you can make most of these games password protected as well if you are using the IP entry option for hooking up to a server.

So...how much bandwidth do you have to dedicate to this, Tony?:D

Originally posted by Undertoad
But online multiplayer baseball? Do we really want to re-create the thrilling experience of playing right field for nine innings?

nah. pitcher. :)

hockey would be good. i havent played too many hockey games, any suggestions for good ones?

~james

1.544 megabits per second, sir, and a few 'puters just sitting around doing very little. Ping cellar.org to see what kind of ping time you'd get to me.

But we can't play Q3A, because while we may own the game, dave would 0wnz us completely if we played it.

180, 150, 161...well within happy online gaming parameters!

I can hold my own in a *fair* game of Q3A, UT...we play here at work quite a lot. However, sports would be awesome...hell, even MP Online golf would be cool playing against real people.

Let's reach a consensus on a starter game, perhaps, and give us a few days to acquire it, then set up a match series? I would toss out FIFA 2003 only because I have it, but I'm willing to pick up whatever everyone else is cool with. Hockey would be fine, football, golf...pick one, guys!

Unfortunately, I'm as avid a gamer as anyone I know, but both sports games and online games leave me cold, as a general rule. I have the tools (DSL, Athlon 1300, Dreamcast, PS2 that I can get an online adapter for), but can't think of a single online game that I'd be excited to play (whether in opposition or co-op). I played a little Duke Nukem and Quake at an old job after hours with cow orkers, but it became very repetitive quickly.

I did buy PS2 NFL2K3 for $10 last week, but that was more of an impulse buy than anything else.

(I played netrek online back in the day, but that requires 10-16 people to play properly, and my skills have rusted substantially in the decade since then.)

vsp, how bout warcraft iii or nwn?

~james

vsp, that's as strange a blind spot as I've ever seen. I played Duke 3D at work back in the day and it was a total blast.

There's nothing like hitting your boss with a rocket launcher and watching his head and torso fly in different directions.

Playing against real people instead of dumb AI bots really changes things, because eventually you figure out what the bots will do and then they become puzzle targets. People are not predictable like that.

Anyone here got Xbox live?

Originally posted by Undertoad
vsp, that's as strange a blind spot as I've ever seen. I played Duke 3D at work back in the day and it was a total blast.

There's nothing like hitting your boss with a rocket launcher and watching his head and torso fly in different directions.

Playing against real people instead of dumb AI bots really changes things, because eventually you figure out what the bots will do and then they become puzzle targets. People are not predictable like that.

And yet, they _do_ tend to be predictable like that, at least in my experiences in the multiplayer FPS world. (Read as: up until Quake, after which I had no one to challenge.) Nobody's a _total_ robot, but 95% of the people I've played against have certain behavior patterns and traits that are easily identifiable and that they'll rely on when in a pinch.

Does Bob take chances, or hang back, accumulate armor and weapons, and try harder to stay alive? Does Bill hunt others down aggressively, or sit back and snipe? Who has an idiosyncratic love for the grenade launcher or the axe, even though he knows they're not the most effective weapons? Who camps? Who's got better aim, or who tends to miss a lot? Getting to know most human opponents isn't that much more difficult than getting to know CPU constructions.

When you come down to it, a typical single-player FPS level is a heavily-armed obstacle course. Traverse from Point A to Point B, avoid or demolish the traps in your path, reach the goal/exit and move to the next. A well-crafted level is a thing of beauty. After long periods of challenging the same opponents, I found myself wanting something different, and new single-player levels (or new games, period) were more capable of providing that.

I'm not much for challenging people I don't know (pickup games on the net) -- usually they're either infinitely more skilled than I am, loud and obnoxious and l33t, or both. Then there's the whole online-cheating thing...

This is why, perversely, I prefer single-player mode on most fighting games, and have ever since the days of Street Fighter II. Granted, CPU chars were often absurdly one-dimensional back then, but on today's consoles, their AIs are immensely more complex and subtle opponents. (I'm looking at DC Soul Calibur and PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 as my two favorites -- PARTICULARLY the latter. Its AI-training mode lets you play "coach" and guide a CPU construct against all opposition, while its Kumite mode simulates a Japanese arcade and an endless stream of challengers suited to your skill level, instead of being blown off the machine by guys who've spent $8000 learning the timing of every single move and can dial up 120%-life combos on you at will. Play the game at _your_ pace, without needing a human opponent of similar skill to truly enjoy it.

Believe me, hitting your boss with the Freezethrower _was_ cathartic and fun. (A cow orker put together a Duke level based on the building's floor map, which added to the fun, right down to the beer in the mini-fridge in the boss's simulated office.) It just... got old.

Originally posted by perth
vsp, how bout warcraft iii or nwn?

I actually own one of the Warcraft II battle packs... bought it for cheap at BJ's Wholesale a while back... but never got around to installing it. I read through the instruction book and got caught up in other games.

I looked at NWN, but its single-player mode is LITERALLY single-player (you can't build a party, or take direct control of the one NPC you can travel with, according to the review I read).

Morrowind is more my speed -- tons of solo wandering in an extremely open-ended environment. Sort of the anti-Diablo. (Oddly, I enjoy the single-player PS1 Diablo more than the single-player PC version -- the controls are more limited, but they just feel right to me. Net Diablo was never an option for me once the rampant cheating kicked in -- that is, on day one.)

I've avoided MMORPGs as a general rule (Evercrack, Ultima Online and their ilk), and not just for the monthly fee or marriage-destroying tendencies. Basically, they're highly-graphical modern variations of MUDs, which I dabbled in a decade ago but eventually abandoned. The MMORPG experience seems more about the people you play the game with more than the game itself -- which (a) doesn't say much for the game design, (b) makes your gameplay experience dependent on finding cool people to play with, and (c) is just as susceptable to cheaters and 24-hour-a-day obsessives. Then you get the people who start building emotional attachments to others' online personalities... do I even have to go there?

But hey -- I'm weird. I know this.

<a href="www.netrek.org">Netrek</a> was the only online game I ever got into for any length of time; I played three seasons in the Intercollegiate Netrek League, including one remotely for Team UPenn. (And, before anyone asks, I _hate_ Star Trek, but its only impact on the game is aesthetic.)

The game is primitive by modern standards, but that's a good thing; it rewards clever strategies more than supernatural joystick/mouse skills. Teamwork is absolutely vital to success, which helps weed out the yahoos. The message system allowed for both trash-talk, macro abuse of the airwaves and/or ignore features for fending off undesirable chatter. Pickup games could be just as much fun as formal scrimmages. Server-side client authentication keeps cheaters out. Accumulated ranks affect only one aspect of the game (the ability to pilot a starbase), meaning that grizzled vets and raw newbies have nearly equal capabilities. And clients are available for umpteen platforms. About once a year or so, I get back into the habit for a while.

I might actually be willing to pursue the necessary computer upgrades if I could play Global Operations against people who weren't total assholes with cheat software running ...

Well vsp you're not invited to the Cellar LAN party then.

Well, _hmmph_. See if I'd want to belong to any club that'd have me as a member!

I too hate the cheats at Q3A, but in my circle of players, that's not really a problem. Most of the people I play with, I've been face to face with. We definitely should play once I get a decent connect back.

As for games that everyone might enjoy, I'm thinking something like Ghost Recon (Hi Tony!). I can see wolf enjoying that, I've been looking curiously at it for a while now, and I'm guessing the others could get into it. Tony knows more about it, so he should post.

Sports games, I'm really more into the console thing there, and I know we don't all have consoles, so... if someone had something decent there, I could go for it. I might have to buy a gamepad to hook up to the computer, but that's no big deal. I can't imagine playing soccer or basketball (the two types of sports I think translate really well to computer/console games) with just a keyboard.

'spode - here's a lame video I made in 10 minutes to show someone a few shots. It's me playing Q3 against a couple different opponents, and it should give you an idea of my skill level: http://www.msdelta.net/~dave/quake/videos/becoming-highlights.mpg

I play that map quite a lot myself...pretty impressive performance, Dave (I was particularly impressed with the on-the-bounce rail shot against the target on the extreme opposite bounce - a close second was the rocket shot on the cross-jumping target above the central platform).

Pretty good shooting, Dave. I'd still like to give you a run, but it couldn't be on my machine at home...it is too laggy, even on a hot connection. I would expect to get my ass waxed either way, though, based on the vid.

Well... on that map in particular, I am (not to toot my own horn) one of the top five players in the world. Yes, we have had tournaments for <b>just that map</b> and I've traditionally done very well on it. It comes from having played it for an average of, I'd guess, three hours a day for the past three and a half years. I'm not as good on other maps as far as movement and map knowledge, but my aim is about the same all around.

That rocket shot is one of the hardest to hit in the game, in my opinion. It's one of my favorite shots, except for the time I put 3 grenades into a guy in the air on pro-q3dm6 (the middle bouncepad - one as he came up, one as he was in the air above and in front of me, and the final killing shot as he fell to the ground below. I have the demo, I'll make a movie of it some time).

If you want, we can play on a server that's very close to you. I am stupidly ping dependant (I had really fast DSL and usually would ping sub-30 to most east-coast servers, meaning that I had big trouble playing with a ping greater than, oh, say, 40), so it would probably be more fair, what with both of our shitty pings. :)

I could muster a decent ping, but not *that* decent. I seem to be able to get the low 100's pretty consistently from home, and comparable from work, though.

My machine at home is just a bit on the slow side to really run Q3A as well as it needs to be run to be a hot player. Still and all, I couldn't keep up with you based on what I see in that vid. Those were some *awesome* shots, and if you make them with any regularity, you'd eat my lunch and hand me back the empty bag.

I think the most telling factor about your skill level is the fact that you have such videos featuring your greatest hits at all.. :)

A'ight, this is really stupid but... I make videos because there is a dorky crowd of fanboys around the Space CTF/trickjumping scene, and since I'm a visible character on both of those fronts, I have requests to make videos and whatnot. So I record *every* game that I play, and every once in a while I'll show someone the demo. What usually happens is that I get stuck in a 1v1 against someone on Space CTF and I have five or six spectators talking like idiots in messagemode1. "nice!" and stuff, but it's distracting. So anyway, some people don't want to watch a whole demo but just want to see some good shots. That video was for that purpose.

I do hit the shots with regularity, which is one of the things that puts me near the top on Space CTF. The first two shots - a rail coming up the jump and then an air rocket in the same area - were from the same game, recorded maybe two minutes apart. The continuous demo of the 2 rocket/rail combos (across the middle and then from up high) was obviously continuous, and I cut out a bit at the end where I air rocketed him twice in a row when he bounced up at me as I was grabbing his flag. My new specialty is machine gunning people all over the damn place, which is what you see in the last one - I had tracked him all the way from the mega up to the rail, so much so that, as you can see, he didn't have the air to get to the rail, and I had killed him before he landed anyway. The victim was cypH, another very well known player in the Space CTF community.

What it really all comes down to is practice. I've played Quake probably an average of four hours every day for the last three and a half years, and Space was <b>all</b> I played for the first year - and about eight hours a day, since I was unemployed and out of school.

You might be interested in some demos if you like seeing cool stuff. Here are a few trickjumps that are relatively difficult. :)

http://www.metastudios.com/quake/demos/walk.dm_67
http://www.metastudios.com/quake/demos/torpedo.dm_67
http://www.metastudios.com/quake/demos/drj2rail.dm_67

Ghost Recon I could host easily, and it plays OK on a P2-500 class machine with 3D on the level of geforce 2s. (I think it uses the Half-Life engine?)

Ghost Recon is a military first-person shooter. It's more realism-oriented than other FPS type games, in that if you get shot once you will usually die. Most of the time you don't hear the shot that killed you, although you may get the warning of hearing rounds chunk into the dirt or cement near your location. There are no "Medi-PAKs" or other arcade-like devices. It's all about angles, strategy, weapon choice. Half of the strategy is learning how not to die, which includes learning how to move around and use cover without being seen. If you charge into the action, as you do in other FPSes, you will be shot.

The "plot" is that you are a member of an elite special forces/navy seal type squad, doing things like stopping guerillas from blowing up refineries in northeast Africa.

Pros: it's a good game for newbs and non-newbs, because even though the new player may die faster, they are still useful, and will still enjoy it.

The game has transitioned into its mid-life, which means that the original game and its two "mission packs" are now combined into one single box.

Cons: Playing against each other does require a minimum number of players in order to be fun, because 3 on 3 on a large map means you spend too much time searching for the enemy. Co-op mode would be the rule for us.

Originally posted by dave
I've played Quake probably an average of four hours every day for the last three and a half years, and Space was <b>all</b> I played for the first year - and about eight hours a day, since I was unemployed and out of school.

While I do not look upon this with any disapproval, I will never again wonder whether my own gaming habits have reached frightening proportions.

EVER. ;)

I haven't played it at all since the fire, and I was down to about 90 minutes a night or so. I tell you, part of it is liberating. I am no longer tied to the computer. And I am over the addiction. But part of it sucks, 'cause DAMMIT IT'S FUN!

So I'm at the point where I think I'm about to kill Diaz. In the next few missions, anyway. Right now I've gotta go in the speedboat to pick up something from a yacht, but I quit that and did some exploring.

In my exploring, I bought a place with a garage for $14,000 up in the northern tip of the second island. I'm sure you know it. Now, little did I know, that comes with a helicopter. I really only wanted it for the garages ('cause I didn't have one), but that helicopter is cool. I started flying around, looking at stuff. Guess what I found? The PSG-1 on top of a building! So I'm pretty happy, and I'm thinking that the PSG-1 alone is worth the price of the building - the garages and helicopter are just icing on the cake.

But Matt is giving me shit, saying I shouldn't have bought it so early because it gives me less money to spend later on and produces no cash for me. What do you think? Bad buy or not? I thought it was a damn good idea, but he has a point. I'm not even to the point where I can buy the other stuff yet, though, so...

Money in the GTA universe is relatively easy to come by. It was easier in GTA3 than in Vice, but $14K is still a drop in the bucket. Rob some stores, do some Vigilante/Pizza/Ambulance/Fire Truck missions, plow over parking meters. You'll make it back in short order.

The condo in question is invaluable for several reasons:

1) It's the only hideout with a garage that you'll get for a looooooooong time on the western island. The only other readily-accessible hideout nearby is the Skumhole Shack, which is cheap but is just a hole-in-the-wall with no features.

2) Lotsa garages for vehicle storage, including one big enough to hold a tank.

3) Hey, free helicopter!

4) Until you finish a certain advanced mission, you can't buy ANYTHING that'll produce money for you.

I know I can't buy 'em yet - I've been all over both islands and have stopped at probably every building to check everything out. I'm sure I'll know my opportunity when it presents itself.

I think his point was that if I saved the money, I could have spent it later on to buy something else, but now it's gone and I have to re-earn it. But still, I think it was a good idea. Big damn garages, helicopter (and therefore PSG-1)... I'm glad you don't think it was awful too. Means I'm on the right track. :)

Some of the properties have sticker-shock issues... but you also get a higher return from those than from the cheaper ones. (Sunshine Autos is probably the best buy of the bunch; it requires some legwork to activate it fully, but when you're done it'll churn out $9000 a day for you.)

You've got a pile of missions to go before you're in property-buying mode. Play for now -- the money'll be there when you need it later.

Alright, so I've been putting serious mission-beating play into the game. I've used the helicopter on serveral "weapon gathering" missions, where I picked up the PSG-1, the rocket launcher, and the badass revolver that kills with one shot.

I did the assassin mission "Autocide" and worked on the main missions. The last of which I completed was "Shakedown", so now I'm ready to buy property. At this point, I took a look at IGN's guide to get an idea of the yield on these places. I think I'm going to get PrintWorks first, because it's only $70,000 and generates $8,000/day. But you mentioned the autos place, and I thought I would ask - are you sure it does $9,000/day? And is it a beeeotch to unlock? I read that PrintWorks was relatively easy and that Sunshine was more complicated. As always, your expertise is appreciated. I just want to make a good first buy. I know Sunshine offers more in the way of the building itself (Pay-n-Spray, big garage, etc), but what do you think I'd be better off with first?

Man, taking Diaz's mansion was way easier than I thought it would be. Once he said "this place is going to be swarming with assholes", I knew that was my cue to snipe. I took out all but 1 or 2 of the guys outside (the leftover were back behind the place), and then the few guys inside were easy work with my Uzi. Diaz bit the dust after what seemed like just a few seconds with the Uzi as well. I beat that shit on my first try, so I guess it wasn't really that difficult a mission. But the payoff was nice. :)

(I keep asking you because I try not to use guides. It feels cheap. Somehow, asking you for guidance feels less cheap. :) )

After thinking about it another minute, I think I will do Sunshine autos, 'cause a) I'm sure that you are sure, and b) fuck it, how hard can it be?

But still, your thoughts are always appreciated.

Sunshine Autos requires more legwork, but has no "missions" to complete, so to speak. Instead, you'll be filling up its garage with specific vehicles (just like GTA3's Import/Export garages).

Each time you collect a batch of six vehicles, the dealership's return rate goes up. I think it starts at $1500 after the first batch, but it's definitely $9000 after you finish the last (4th) batch. Completing batches also unlocks unique vehicles in the dealership lobby -- the Deluxo (an okay sports car, though it tends to fishtail more than I'd care for), the Sabre Turbo (okay), the Sandking (lots of fun) and the Hotring Racer (best car in the game, IMHO).

Print Works isn't that bad (two missions, if I recall correctly), though the second one can be a real bastard.

Can I get all the cars at the point I'm at in the game? If so, I'll definitely <b>definitely</b> do that one first. If not, I might just do PrintWorks.

Originally posted by dave
Can I get all the cars at the point I'm at in the game? If so, I'll definitely <b>definitely</b> do that one first. If not, I might just do PrintWorks.

Yep. There are a few oddballs (a Baggage Handler, a Mr. Whoopee, a golf cart, etc.) in the lists, but nothing that needs to be unlocked. The first list or two are actually the hardest, as many of the cars are common types (Idaho, Esperanto, Sabre, Virgo, Washington) but seem to disappear right when you're looking for them. The Admiral in particular was a bastard to find.

I had the hardest damn time with the Virgo, but I finally got it. I had all of the sports cars in garages, so that list went by in about 3 minutes. The specials weren't hard either, so now I've got that generating $9,000 each day.

I also have Mr. Whoopee unlocked and done (obviously), as well as Kaufman Cabs, Pole Position and PrintWorks. Or rather, the missions are all complete on those and they're generating money.

I also own the movie studio, and I am on the fourth (and presumably last) mission there, G-spotlight. It's not particularly difficult, but it sure is annoying. I'll probably get it tonight.

Martha's Mug Shot was frustrating until I calmed down and did it the smart way. I tried grenades, but I blew myself up, so I used the sniper rifle. Got forward and ducked just enough so that the tops of their heads were visible, then fired. Once I got the six guys like that, the heli was right out back and I was good to go. So that one is only difficult if you don't approach it right.

I jumped right to the big race at Sunshine and as I was pulling up, I thought "wait a second..." - got out of my car, pulled out the rocket launcher... well, let's just say that with the Spray-n-Go at the dealership, that $40,000 purse is quite easy to come by. :)

Cabmageddon was also funny, because it was so easy. I drove around in a circle for a minute, then stood by the concrete pillars and put a rocket into the big boss cab. It took all of about 80 seconds total, and now Kaufman is done.

As you can see, I've been busy on properties. Sonny is getting pissy with me on the phone, so I'm guessing there's a big damn showdown, probably the end of the game.

I still have to do Love Fist, and I've only done the first Cuban mission (dumb race, but I beat it first try with boatloads of time to spare, no pun intended). I haven't touched Auntie Poulet yet.

Oh yeah, and I went ahead and bought all of the non-asset properties. So I have like, what, 15 save spots? Something ridiculous.

I think that's about it. Somewhere along the line I lost my katana, but it's all good.

I have SOOO got to get back to playing this.

So, I beat it last night.

I now own all properties (bought the Malibu right after beating it, so you <b>don't</b> need to own it like everyone said), and all of them are complete except the Malibu. I see Phil's place there, which must mean that it's opened up some time, and since it wasn't when the game was beaten, I'm guessing it's during/after the Malibu missions.

Other than that, I have at least one more Assassin mission to do - the one in the airport. I don't know if there are any more, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two, since I've had this one forever and I've read or heard that they run "throughout the entire game". I dunno.

I won't ruin it for wolf, but... "Keep your friends close" was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Once I figured out what to do (i.e., where to stand to engage him), it took me two tries - and one of those was blowing myself up with the rocket launcher. I probably played it about ten times, so figure eight spectacular failures, one that was rather funny but annoying and then the finale.

No one told me about the pizza missions! I had to grab a pizza bike for Sunshine and it had a mission - I noted it and then ended it to deliver the vehicle. Well, when you do 10, I thought I was gonna get a little cash bonus. No! Man, that's awesome.

So what do I have left to do? Complete all missions (Assassin, Malibu, must be something with Phil's place - anything else?), rampages, hidden packages, store hold-ups and unique stunt jumps. I think that's it.

Oh yeah, and make a lot of money. :)

Oh yeah - did you find it easier (at least the final mission) than GTA3? I had a HELL of a time on the final mission in GTA3, but this one, I was kind of surprised I beat it so quick. I mean really, probably a half hour of actual play time on the final mission and I was done. Maybe 45 minutes. Granted, that's better than it being frustratingly difficult (like GTA3's final was to me), but still.

I don't feel ripped off, because I've got so much more to do and I've had a lot of fun doing what I've done so far, but still... it just seemed <b>easier</b> this time around. Maybe I'm just that much better. :)

See, maybe I'm just strange, but I didn't have much of a problem with The Exchange in GTA3. (Method: Run out of Catalina's mansion like my ass was on fire, get in a waiting Stinger, drive to the hideout and collect my weapon/armor powerups, drive to the dam, snipe everything that moves, collect rocket launcher, blast chopper, roll credits.)

Keep Your Friends Close took me a while, partly because I didn't realize that the armor + health at the bottom of the staircase regenerated. Choosing the proper "finishing" weapon helped; Sonny goes down much quicker when you have him Say Hello To Your Little Mini-Gun Friend.

There are five Assassin missions, the last of which is around and on top of the Cherry Poppers ice-cream factory. Phil has a couple of fun missions, which open up once you've finished the Malibu. When you get to the screeching horror of a mission that is The Driver, let us know so that we can provide the appropriate sympathy.

That's either the assassin mission that's last then or a Malibu mission, eh? Since you said Phil's were fun :)

I used shotgun on said badguy and it didn't take long at all. I didn't even need the armor to regenerate, though it was nice that it did.

I never had hidden packages in GTA3, so I guess that's why it was harder for me. I don't have 'em here in GTA:VC either (well, okay, 12 of them I do have), but since they left my weapons, I guess it wasn't too bad. I had like 80 rockets, 1300 uzi rounds, etc. I <b>had</b> some 80 PSG-1 rounds, stupid sniping Auntie Poulet mission.

The Driver is a Malibu mission, and easily the hardest mission in the game. It makes Death Row seem like Romper Room. The other Malibu missions are entertaining, particularly the last one (The Job), but the Driver... brrrr.

Quick preview: you're auditioning a getaway-car driver, and he'll only join you if you beat him in a street race. (Why you'd NEED said driver if you're a better driver than he is... er... let's move on.) You don't get to pick your vehicle or your opponent's, though they're reasonably evenly matched. Doesn't sound too tough, does it? Heh.

I'm guessing you don't get a chance to blow him up? Either that, or he's in a bulletproof Cheetah or something... Or it fails the mission? 'cause that would be my first course of action. :)

Easily the hardest in the game, eh? Well fuck.

Just out of curiosity, how did you rate Martha's Mug Shot? I found that one to be annoying, but not particularly difficult now (I did it again at a friend's house).

I'd probably rate the hardest mission for me so far as "Death Row".

Yep, no blowing-up permitted. It'd be hard for him to work for you once he's dead. :) (His car IS bulletproof, as it happens.)

Martha's wasn't too bad, once I worked out where to take the pictures from. Then again, I've been known to cause five-star alerts and run from the FBI just for yuks. Uzi'ed the agents on the way down the stairs, went to my waiting car and VROOM! Off to the races.

Death Row is far from easy, though there are ways of making it easier. My method started the same way that most everyone else's does -- drive like a mad bastard to get there on time. When I got within visual range of the barricaded entrance, I bailed out, letting my rolling car take out Guard #1, then sniped the others at the entrance. Switched to the submachine gun, with judicious use of the auto-target system; if I heard a noise, target -> shoot a few rounds -> keep walking. This got me to Lance with a minimum of damage and a clear path to the entrance. At that point, instead of taking the Sentinel or the (sometimes there) Trashmaster... the Cheetah I'd bailed out of was still there, having been spared major bullet damage by my technique. Lance and I got in, I whipped by the Comet pursuers, and they had no chance of catching me...

My method started with flying the chopper over there, landing, and then rocketing the first batch. I used auto-target too, but I got chewed up pretty good on the way to Lance.

No matter, it's done now, and when I finally got it, I got out of there with hardly any damage. But I must have tried it 20 times before getting it finally.

Once, I don't think the Trashmaster was there and I took the Sentinel... HA. :)

Oh yeah, my method for Martha's Mugshot was much the same as yours, except completely different. :) They pretty well showed me where to take the shots from, so what I did was what I already described here. But then I had a chopper waiting out back, and it was quick work to get back to the movie studio and end it.

But before that, the agents were making quick work of me with their uzis. It sucked something fierce.

Argh. What was it, No Escape? That was easy. And "The Shootist" was absurdly easy - I got a 74 when I had to get 60, and I didn't really try the last round (I had like 62 going in to it). Then I got to the Driver, and almost beat it the second time (my first time on any mission, unless it's really easy, is to scope it out and make a plan - that was the case here). I was like "w0rd, I'm gonna be able to tell jeff that I beat it in like 3 tries." Wrong.

So here we are an hour after I get back from dinner (and thus resumed playing), and I finally beat that fucking asshole Hillary. No no, I beat him twice. But the first one didn't count.

See, on like my twentieth try, I actually got through the last checkpoint. Yeah. Right through the goddamn middle of the fucking red orb. And I just kept on going. And then, 2 seconds later, it goes "Mission Failed - you didn't win the race!" I have never come so close to destroying a game CD. I don't know if it was a bug or if they fuck with you like that, but I was goddamn pissed.

Countless other times I would be so far ahead of him as to be assured a victory, and right on the last big turn (after the bridge), he passes me - after having been nowhere in sight for the last 30 seconds (I check rearview very often). Huh? Does this game like to fucking cheat or what?

On two occasions, I ran that mother fucker off the road into an impossible position. One was where he ramped off over the stairs near Cortez's place and, again, was not behind me for the remainder of the race - until he passed me just after the bridge. BULLSHIT.

Then there was this classic: I was getting on to the bridge, I had gotten lucky and he took a detour up the first bridge after hitting a car, so I was WAY ahead - plus, I happened to have a <b>perfect run</b>, i.e., my car was in perfect condition - and on the bridge, what do I run in to but THREE FUCKING COP CARS. Of course, while I'm reversing and getting the fuck out, he flies past me and finishes. I have never seen a game cheat so fucking bad.

And you know, it occurred to me at dinner, this fucking asshole HAS to get killed, because there's no way GTA would have someone else driving after a mission that's sure to have a shitload of stars. NO FUCKING WAY. So it was probably all for naught. I bet you'll tell me I'm right. I'm pretty good at predicting this game overall I think and I feel more strongly about this than anything else. I bet my fucking paycheck I drive that shit. Goddammit.

(hee hee hee)

One post. ELEVEN variations of the word "fuck." Yep, that's what Hilary will do to you, and what he did to me...

I've beaten him three times -- once on my own game, once on my friend Rick's game and once on my wife's save when she started playing it. In some cultures, I believe this would qualify me to have my name chanted by crowds on religious feast days.

Hilary meets an appropriately pathetic end. There is that much justice in the world.

The guy that designed that mission's a fucking asshole. Anyone that knows that fucking asshole's a fucking asshole.

The race itself is hardly difficult, and I've driven a Sentinel enough to be very comfortable with it (i.e., only hitting shit when he was pushing me into it, or when cops appeared out of the blue right in front of me on a damn bridge where I couldn't detour). The cars aren't equal, but that's okay. I could deal with that.

The problem for me was how the game obviously has a bit of logic that goes "if the player is about to win, make him lose somehow". It doesn't help that the Sabre Turbo's acceleration is a trillion times better than the Sentinel's.

What an asshole mission. Definitely the low point of the game, and if I thought that there was anything else like that in the game, I would probably stop playing it.

The cars aren't EQUAL equal... but, with the benefit of hindsight, you're not at as big of a disadvantage as I first thought. Hilary's Sabre Turbo has somewhat better acceleration, but a lower top speed, which helps balance it. Think about the beginning of the race -- you can keep pace with Hilary (within a car length or so) all the way to the first sharp turn, easily, unless you hit something before then. It's not a case where he peels out and essentially gets a quarter-mile head start while you're still shifting into third gear, and you have to make up that difference.

What Hilary has, and you don't, is the benefit of CPU steering. You have to think about how to handle each turn, to remember the course, to deal with unexpected traffic and flying cop cars -- he doesn't. He just goes, and takes a decent line on every turn automatically, and you have to manually do the same to win. (Hilary does drive a bit erratically when you're close -- maybe you make him nervous -- and sometimes he'll make unforced errors.)

And, as you've noted, the game cheats to high hell. There are set traps that trigger when you approach and leave Hilary alone (a sharp right turn that has two cop cars slamming together comes to mind, as does the ambush after the last bridge). The cops seem to go after whoever's in second place more strenuously -- which is generally you. If Hilary gets too far ahead, he's gone; the cops and traffic no longer harass him, as they do you when you're the one with a huge lead. Hilary can always close the gap, but that's nothing new with driving games in general; hell, that's why I could never get into Mario Kart, because you could lap everyone twice and still end up with a photo finish.

The street races at Sunshine Autos are a lot more entertaining, if that's a comfort.

The cops slamming together become stupidly obvious to me after the second run and I managed to avoid it from there on out. The only time they really got me, as a matter of fact, was that one time on the bridge, when there was three (THREE! I only ever see two! Not three!) cars on the fuckin' bridge. And of course, he somehow scoots around it, though they're blocking the whole damn thing. I couldn't believe it. I was stunned.

At least that shit is done now, though.

The top speed was another thing; it was like VC was fucking with me. The Sentinel <b>would not</b> reach its top speed if I continually held down the gas. I had to let up and then press again, and it would shoot off. Otherwise, I'd be crusing along at the equivalent of 50mph and that motherfucker would just shoot right past me. Took me probably 5 races to figure that out. I've never had that problem in a Sentinel before, and I didn't have it again after I drove last night. I dunno what was up, maybe my controller got sweat in it. But that was aggravating as hell too.

Well, The Job was pretty cool. Took me about five tries. I had heard other people complaining about it but I didn't find it very difficult at all. The hardest thing for me was getting Cam in the car. I just capped him before we ran out and all of a sudden it was much easier. :) Seems like Phil wants it more than Cam.

So then I went and beat Phil's missions. So I have all of the property asset missions done. I think I'm just on to the assassin missions now. As far as I know, that's all I have left. I still haven't done Check In At The Check Out or whatever it's called. I ran it once as my trial mission, and it basically looked like a) remember to pick up my weapons and b) skillful driving. Do you find it difficult?

I just added it up, and it looks like my properties are making some $53,000 a day. Nice! If I run one of those races every game day, I can pocket $83,000. I'm not over a million yet, but I'm getting close.

I've had a lot of fun with Vice City, and once I 100% it, I will probably play through it again. The only mission I see myself really dreading it... well, I don't have to say it. You know it.

Man, can 2:30 just hurry up and get here so I can go home and play Vice City?

Assassin missions done. Both of the last two were pretty easy, though the fourth one gave me fits because I couldn't keep my (newly re-purchased) PSG-1. ARGH!

So then I whipped out the guide I bought and started snagging hidden packages. I was also working on vigilante missions. They get tougher at around level 6 or so. I understand you have to successfully do 12 levels to get the extra armor. Which I don't really need right now. Oh well.

I also had a fun time just causing general mayhem and killing people. Oh, and I did another rampage. It was like "kill 10 in 2 minutes with the PSG-1". Couldn't get any easier.

I love the Spaz shotgun. I went ahead and bought a bunch, as well as the PSG-1 rounds (I'm at about 150 on both, I think). Good times.

Where are you at, money-wise? Just curious.

I'd have to go back and check where my money's at -- it's been a while. Once you've bought all the properties, it's all uphill from there.

The vigilante missions are a bastard... UNLESS you use the attack helicopter, at which point it becomes a lot easier once you get the hang of its missiles. Since you've finished Keep Your Friends Close, the chopper should be available at the Air Force base. (Note that getting into and out of said Air Force base without being shot to ribbons is another matter entirely.)

Free tip for weapons that'll save you a ton of money: some weapon types use the same ammo. This is particularly useful with the Uzi family; you can buy up thousands of shells of the ultra-cheap variety (MAC10s for $100 in Ocean Beach), then buy ONE expensive MP5 and the ammo will transfer over. Ditto for shotguns (buy standard Chrome, then pick up one Spaz) and assault rifles (buy Rugers, then pick up one M4). Unfortunately, this doesn't work for the Colt Python or the Sniper rifles.

Saving money on weapons is important when you start doing rampages, because your weapons will have an annoying tendency to disappear due to a bug. If you start a rampage that has (let's say) a mini-gun as the weapon of choice, you are given an unlimited-ammo mini-gun. When you finish it or time runs out, it takes away the mini-gun BUT DOESN'T RETURN whatever weapon you had in the Heavy Weapons slot before you started the rampage. This is particularly aggravating for drive-by shooting missions, which take away your submachine gun.

Supposedly, what can tend to happen is that it tries to give the weapon back, but assigns the ammo to the wrong weapon class. This is how I ended up with a Colt Python with 4000 shells. If you have the "right" weapon already readied when you touch the Rampage icon, it generally eliminates this problem, but that implies that you already know what the Rampage is before you touch it.

Yeah, that's how I've ended up with about 2,000 Uzi shells for my MP5 - picking up lots of the other ones, like the one under Skumole. I didn't know about the MAC10 at $100 though - I'll have to check that out.

VC definitely has some annoying bugs; I have lost probably 10 vehicles in garages so far, and I haven't done anything "tricky" (you'll remember that from a year ago).

I was going to collect all 100 packaes to get the helicopter, but if you say it's there now... well, w0rd. I was also thinking that the Rhino would be choice.

Where is it in the AFB? I've tried getting in there before, and yes, it's kinda... defended. But I can probably mange. The problem is saving the chopper from getting shot to pieces on the way out. Maybe if I get a Sea Sparrow and then go in guns blazing? Just an idea.

The deal with the Hunter copter is that there are two ways to unlock it:

* finish Keep Your Friends Close (the last storyline mission)
* get all 100 hidden packages

If you do ONE of the above, the Hunter will appear all the way in the back of the AFB (the north side), behind a bunch of fences.
If you do BOTH of the above, the Hunter will appear in the AFB, and _also_ at the helipad in Ocean Beach (completely undefended).

The soldiers at the AFB are hostile to you even after you've completed both tasks... UNLESS you're wearing a certain outfit. If you're wearing the right outfit, they're friendly to you as long as you don't shoot or bludgeon any of them, and you can walk right up to the Hunter and take off. (For entertainment, get someone chasing you and lead them through the gate, and watch the soldiers blast your pursuer to kingdom come.)

I have gotten the Hunter out a few times without the outfit trick, but it's very hard. What I did was to fly a Maverick in at high speed from the north, and bail out right over the Hunter's pen. If you're lucky, the game will get confused and spawn airport personnel instead of soldiers in that area, and you can take off before anyone else shows up. If you're not, they'll shoot you to ribbons in the several seconds that the takeoff sequence requires. It might actually be easier to fetch the Rhino by this method (more armor), except that that doesn't appear until you've got 90 packages.

How does one come across said outfit?

Also, do you think VC is better than GTA3? I think I've enjoyed it more, because a) I'm better, so it's less frustrating, and b) there's more to do, it seems. I think the properties really added something to it, at least for me.

(If it's just the cop outfit, then I have that already, obviously. Er, I think I do.)

It is the cop outfit; it's in the same place as in "No Escape." (Which is a little odd. Imagine a beat cop charging into an airfield and commandeering an Apache, saying "I need this, there's a mugging-in-progress downtown." Then again, real-life beat cops typically don't have to deal with guys with rocket launchers and Gatling guns.)

GTA3 has some things going for it that Vice doesn't:

* GTA3 came _completely_ out of left field to stun the gaming world. I owned all three GTA titles (1, 2, London pack) before GTA3, so I was no stranger to the series, but even I was blown away as to how perfectly the developers took it to the next level. Vice was nowhere near that kind of generational leap, so while it was also highly entertaining, there was a certain been-there-done-that feeling to many parts of it.

* GTA3 had MUCH better music. Much much better. Not that there weren't tracks on Vice that I enjoyed, but apart from a couple of Love Fist songs, they'd all been heard before.

The homegrown tracks on GTA3 had that funky Craig Conner vibe to them, which was a major plus; the parody music was a highlight of all the previous GTAs. Likewise, while some large-label musicians were included, they weren't 'name' artists like Vice used; they were off-the-beaten-path types that were new to most people. (I bought the relevant Scientist album after enjoying K-Jah, for instance.) If I wanted to hear the non-original songs of Vice City, on the other hand, my local Sam Goody had all of them.

The talk radio for both games was excellent, so one point for Vice for having two stations, though (again) I probably preferred Lazlow in GTA3 to either individually.

* You didn't have to tweak the graphics in GTA3 in the first five minutes to make the game viewable. (Did anyone NOT turn the blurring off in Vice?)

Now, Vice was a more COMPLETE game, with lots of new features, but I expected no less. The motorcycles and helicopters alone were worth the purchase price, the property system gave it new life in late-game, and the storyline was fleshed-out more than GTA3's without limiting the player's in-game freedom.

According to the rumor mill, there are two development teams working on sequels: a PS2 sequel using the GTA3-Vice engine, and a second sequel intended for the PS3 and supposed to be another "generational leap," so to speak. Think 2004 for the former.

I'd take Lazlow over both of the talk radio shows in Vice. Lazlow was the only thing I listened to in GTA3.

As far as music in general, I think VC is trying to fit with the 80's, and honestly, I think it succeeds there. I never forget that it's taking place in the 80's rather than the 90's. But yeah, some of the music really bites. Especially "Gold" in WAVE 103. Good lord I hate that song.

Matt (mwbEEf on the Cellar) actually didn't turn the blurring off. That's the first thing I did. I'm not sure why they put that in, maybe to make it feel more like the 80's. I dunno. But I thought it was awful.

Man, the game just decided to forget my sniper rifle, so I have to go re-buy that shit again. I'm over $1 million now though, so it's no big deal.

I got the vigilante missions done. "Brown Thunder"... hehe. The missiles definitely are kinda difficult to aim, but I got lucky and had a LOT of vigilante missions in the airport on the tarmac (probably 6 of the 13 I completed). So that was easy. I ended the mission with 5 stars, which meant I had to collect a bunch of bribes. I picked up a number in the chopper and then one on foot (at Hyman Condo) - and then did the clothes change to lose the last two stars. Flying around in the Hunter was definitely fun, though it is less maneuverable than the Maverick that I'm used to. Oh well.

I spent a lot of time yesterday running from cops. I'd start some mayhem, get up to 4 or 5 stars and then just make a game of it trying to lose 'em. I love that one bribe in Little Haiti over the ramp, and then the one near Sunshine over another ramp. Those things are great!

Man, I have so much garage space. I noticed last night that I have about 5 PCJ 600's saved; those are great in a pinch. I find them to be pretty much the best for outrunning the cops (though I spent most of my time yesterday in a cop car, just for kicks). BF Injection for tooling around and I have not one but TWO Patriots in the mansion garage. Like you, I have a soft spot for those things.

Also, Hilary sucks.

i picked up gta3 for the pc tonight. i played vice city on the ps2 and hated it. im hoping i like the original better, and im hoping that playing it on the pc will help. im about to install it now. wish me luck. :)

~james

I'm buying Vice city for the PC for the summer, I'm going to be living at my uncles house and will have limited access to the net so I'm going to be bored when not working(kind of sad really). I'm hoping that keeps me occupied for a good chunk of time.

the bad news is that im really unhappy with the framerate im getting from the game. the good news is that im enjoying it enough to want a new video card to remedy the problem. :)

its probably a combination of improved controls (in my mind) and the fact that vice city had a "style" that ive never really identified with (while i did grow up in the 80s i cant really say im proud of that fact :) ).

~james

perth you SICK SON OF A BITCH! Hated it? Good lord.

Hey, I made it my personal mission the other day to collect hidden packages and do rampages in VC. I have 96 packages and 33 rampages done. I am at a whopping 66% completion. Really, hold your applause.

I don't know WHERE the four are that I'm missing. I found about 30 on my own, then the rest with a guide, and I went down and checked off every one. There's one in Little Haiti and three in Little Havana that I don't think I have, but since I got 30 and then the rest later, I can never be sure (I wasn't marking them the first time). I'll post the ones I'm not sure of later.

As far as rampages, I'm not sure where those are either. Driving me nucking futs, but I think ign's guide can get me through it. I had purchased an EGM one for just this purpose but they just have a map, no description of the location. IGN's got pretty decent descriptions on everything, so I should be fine.

After that, I guess it's just a shitload of vehicle missions and whatnot. I looked through the guide and saw RC stuff, the races at the stadium, etc.

Oh, and I also did the Downtown and Little Haiti Sparrow Checkpoint missions. Wee!

VC is good fun. And then I had to move.

Originally posted by dave
perth you SICK SON OF A BITCH! Hated it? Good lord.

hey, sorry man. at least im liking the original, right? :) i just cant enjoy anything that even remotely reminds me of don johnson in a pastel pink sports jacket.

~james

I like 80's music, and I can look past the rest. Once you get deeper into it, it's not as much like the 80's. It's got more depth than GTA3, which is cool.

But yes, I would yell at you if you didn't like GTA3 too. I can't comprehend how someone could not enjoy either of them. Paul doesn't like VC either, but played the original a ton. Matt hates the original but loves VC. I love 'em both. Takes a true fan, I guess. :P

tell ya what. ill play the hell out of gta3 and when i see vice city available for the pc for around 20 bucks, ill pick it up and give it another try. :)

the thing i like about the pc is that it plays mp3s. on the other hand, i cant get enough of the talk radio station. funny as hell.

~james

Who said my name was Toni?

My ma, she's always sayin' "Toni, Toni, Toni"... hahaha

Yeah, Chatterbox FM was way better than the two in VC (although both are still very good, especially VCPR).

Let's press the issue!

"back to Maurice Chavez... the asshole."

"You're correct, he is an asshole."

That gets me every time. Man.

And I love the Maibatsu Monstrosity commercial.

Once I'm done with VC I'm going to go back and 100% GTA3, which I never got around to 'cause I got so burned out with it. Moderation...

Originally posted by dave
Once I'm done with VC I'm going to go back and 100% GTA3, which I never got around to 'cause I got so burned out with it. Moderation...

The guy who averaged four hours a day of Quake is worried about PLAYING IN MODERATION?

I got 100% in GTA3, but I think I'll have to start over to nail 100% in Vice, as I have no idea of which of about ten unique jumps I'm missing.

Quake is different because the opponents change and you can improve drastically from any point in skill. Plus there are hundreds of maps to learn. I just got tired of GTA3 after a while. I played so much and still couldn't beat The Exchange without cheating, but I think that if I actually collect packages I could do a decent job at it. Plus I'm re-invigorated about it. I think I could do it this time.

Originally posted by dave
I played so much and still couldn't beat The Exchange without cheating, but I think that if I actually collect packages I could do a decent job at it. Plus I'm re-invigorated about it. I think I could do it this time.

Hint: before you wipe your old savefile, try this...

Park a TANK on the street by Catalina's HQ when you're ready to start "The Exchange." When you make your break at the beginning of the mission, the tank _should_ be there; if not, park it a little farther from the entrance the next time and try again. Use the tank's firepower to flatten 90% of Catalina's goons, shoot the others with the guns that the 90% drop, and use the sniper rifle near the entrance of the Dam compound to nail the guys who are guarding Maria. The rocket launcher is up on the pad, and you know the rest.

Since tanks are readily available in Liberty City without cheating via the time-honored Parking Garage method, this shouldn't take too long to set up. (Alternate if you're already in Shoreside Vale: run across the street from your hideout onto the grassy embankment, overlooking the streets below. Start blasting anything that moves and rocketing choppers to get to six stars, throw grenades when a tank pulls up, and drive like a mad bastard back to the hideout to save. It'll save you a trip back to Staunton Island, and if you're in the right spot, cops won't tend to spawn up on the hill and annoy you.)

Ah, man, don't get me tempted to go back and start either game again! I'm already at 70+ hours in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, am waiting to start Kingdom Hearts, and have the Stanley Cup Playoffs to distract me.

By the way, have you ever done the "Super Jump" in GTA3, where you can put a car on the overhead-train tracks in Portland and (with some luck) have it launch you all the way to Staunton Island?

No, I didn't get to trying much. I still fondly remember your description of it (I go back and re-read this entire thread every few weeks). I guess that will be something to do once I finish Vice City. :)

So after getting moved, I've had little time to play Vice City, but that doesn't mean I haven't gotten anything accomplished.

I'm up to 97 hidden packages, and when I finally get around to printing out IGN's guide, I'm sure I'll finish those pretty quick.

33 rampages and no idea which I'm missing. Again, IGN's guide should help.

11 unique jumps, but I haven't been trying. The only ones I've done since last time are the ones on the docks where Cortez was. I PCJ'd 'em, and it was annoying 'cause I kept landing the second one (off the speed from the first) and then either hitting the side or turning a bit when I hand-braked and swerving - and then hitting the side - and going into the water. On the fourth try I finally landed 'em safely and got back to the apartment to save.

After that, I spent an hour flying the Hunter around (which I've found stupidly easy to get by flying in on the Maverick and grabbing in, even if I'm wearing golf clothes) and shooting down planes out of the air (as well as blowing up shit on the ground). Eventually I hit enough buildings (flying low at very high speed in a less-than-super-maneuverable helicopter == bad) that I blew up, and I got dead in about 2 seconds on the ground. So I turned off my PS2 and went to bed. :)

i picked up the gba xp last night, in cobalt blue. damn, this thing is what the gba should have been in the first place. the lit screen looks beautiful, and as near as i can tell, it doesnt significantly impact battery life. the rechargeable, lithium ion battery. it might just be me, but the speaker sounds better. of course, the best way to go is with a decent set of headphones. which is where the gba sp trips up. apparently, a special adapter is needed to use headphones, which sucks, especially because i cant find the goddamned thing in any store. the new style is easier to hold, and the buttons feel better, with a slight 'click' to them that i hope doesnt fade with use.

i picked up the latest castlevania, aria of sorrow, as well. so far the most enjoyable castlevania since symphony of the night on psx. the soul stealing system is cool, and the graphics, while similar to the previous gba games, seem sharpened up a bit. the music is, as usual, great.

~james

Get Metroid Fusion. It rules.

I have the silver SP, which came with a free replacement plan from Best Buy. I love the damn thing.

Best Buy should also have a nice case for it (I'll take pictures some other day) that will hold games as well as the unit- though you're out of luck on the recharger. But it's nice and small, anyway. :)

I love my SP.

Originally posted by dave
Get Metroid Fusion. It rules.

im on it. :) i also want zelda and some sort of rpg for my upcoming plane trip. i have golden sun, but im thinking something different would be nice. ill hit best buy tonight to see the selection.

~james

No, I'm fucking serious. It rules oh-so bad. IGN gave it like a 9.6 and said it was one of the best games on the GB, and I completely agree. There's really only one area that was frustratingly difficult for me, but the rest is just about perfect. Good story (I got goosebumps at one point), great gameplay... and only $30. I'm working my way through it a second time. It's awesome.

Originally posted by dave
No, I'm fucking serious

so am i. ill pick it up tonight. :D

~james

A few other suggestions:

* Advance Wars -- pure wargame goodness. An absolute must.
* Fire Pro Wrestling (I or II) -- Decent renditions of the best wrestling series ever.
* If you like strategy RPGs, look at Tactics Ogre.
* Konami Collector Series: Arcade Advanced rules the fargin' earth, if you can find it (contains Time Pilot, Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Frogger, Gyruss, Rush'n Attack, Scramble, all with remix modes)
* Bubble Bobble: Old and New (if they'd ever get off their asses and RELEASE IT in the US -- I've been playing the import for almost a year now)

Best Buy's game selection sucks donkey rocks. Hit the mall and look at GameStop or Electronics Boutique.

hmm... i havent checked circuit city to compare to best buy, but they seem to have the best selection around here. the eb in the mall here has shit for gba games (come to think of it, the eb here sucks in general, although i found some dreamcast accessories for dirt cheap there recently). i had a helluva hard time just finding the gba. went to best buy, eb, etc. and finally found 1 cobalt blue gba sp at target. :)

~james

picked up zelda and metroid fusion. metroid rocks, as dave said, and the only reason im posting this and not playing it is because i made the mistake of suggesting that casey give zelda a try.

~james

It should probably take you 4-5 days to beat Metroid, upon which you'll see your percent completed and go "Jesus, I have to play that again!"

I believe mine the first time through was 42%. :)

Tell me once you get to Serris; he's the first really annoying boss. The spider boss was the one that frustrated me to no end. After that, the really only annoying one was... well, I won't say, but if you've played any of the other Metroid games, you'll know him. Think wings. :)

Anyone tried either of the Midnight Club games?

Both sound structurally similar to the Tokyo Highway Battle series, but with Rockstar at the helm, and look interesting. Think Vice City street races (NOT like The Driver, hopefully, more like the Sunshine Autos race board) as an independent game with a steady framerate and faster cars.

(toying with the notion of a purchase)

I have the first one, $20 at Wal-Mart. Pretty cool, but I haven't spent a lot of time on it. No, not nearly as frustrating as The Driver.

I have a pile of games that are sitting in my on-deck circle, waiting to be played. I have another pile that I'm about 80-90% through, waiting for me to work up the desire to finish them.

So what did I do this weekend? Ignore both piles, go back to my PSX collection and blast my way through games that I'd already enjoyed and played to death.

This weekend's oldie-but-goodie: <b>the Tecmo's Deception series</b>.

The Deception games are unusually dark in tone, particularly the first one (in which Our Hero is executed unjustly, makes a deal with Satan and returns to seek bloody revenge). Parts Two and Three cast their antiheroines a bit more sympathetically (one brainwashed, the other defending herself and revenging a slain family). In any case, the games are all about one basic play mechanic -- setting up traps on room ceilings, floors and walls, and using them to carve, fling, fry, zap, pummel and squash all who would oppose you.

I'm partial to Deception II and III myself, which both have third-person perspectives (think Resident Evil) instead of the first game's Doom-esque style. You start with rudimentary traps and tools, and build up resources by using them to defend yourself against intruders; at any given time, you can have one ceiling, one wall and one floor trap ready for use or charging in each room. (Traps can be relocated or switched at any time, but they have a "charge up" time after placement.) Successful trap hits earn you skill points; creative combos and using built-in room fixtures (pendulums, electric chairs, buzz saws, falling pillars, etc.) build them up even faster. Skill points are traded for more advanced traps, allowing talented players to build up quite an arsenal rather quickly.

When you get the hang of the trap system, the game is an exercise in cathartic sadism; you can catch an invader by surprise and slam him/her through eight or nine traps in a row, before they can react or lay a finger (or sword, spell or arrow) on you. Watching opponents bounce around like superballs can get repetitive -- most enemies are more hapless than threatening -- but there's a perverse satisfaction in finding new and creative combos.

If this sounds at all appealing, the games are out there for cheap. Kagero: Deception II is fairly common in EB used bins, often for less than ten bucks. Deception III adds in a training mode, an expert (puzzle) mode, and a much more detailed trap-building system (which can make the game much easier than Deception II, but oh well.)

Between the Deception games and the Monster Rancher series, I don't want to know how much of my life Tecmo's games have leeched away...

I bought GTA3 Vice City for Windows two nights ago, and it seems pretty cool. However, it locked up twice in the short time I was playing it. Pretty dissapointing. Especially since I'd just spend over an hour downloading and installing various Windows 2000 updates (along with 4 reboots) before I played it. I think I'll try getting new NVidia drivers and see if that helps things out.

i finally picked up zelda : windwaker for the gamecube. uh. damn. talk about a great game. most obviously, the graphics are beautiful. from the characters to the backgrounds to the tiniest little touches, i cant even count how many times ive said 'wow'. the bomb clouds are great.

the sound is great. the music is subtle and appropriate, and the string version of the zelda theme at the beginning made for a great fanboy moment. sound effects are crisp and sort of whimsical. while the characters dont 'talk', the nondescript voices add a nice level of immersion.

gameplay is tight and intuitive (mostly). its complex without being overwhelming and while i find myself forgetting some of the moves from time to time, its thoroughly enjoyable to play.

all in all, this is probably the finest game ive played on the gamecube.

~james

So it's not stupid and frustrating like Mask of Majora? Might be worth a look-see. Did you get the game bundled with Ocarina of Time? I've wanted to know if it's a direct port or if they enhanced it any ...

Originally posted by wolf
Did you get the game bundled with Ocarina of Time? I've wanted to know if it's a direct port or if they enhanced it any ...

nope. i think that was available only right after the game came out. :( this one has had a couple frustrating moments, but thats mostly because i like exploring *everything* and the camera isnt quite perfect in that regard. im not very 'good' at the game, so i could see it becoming frustrating if it ramps up too much in difficulty, but so far its been quite forgiving.

~james

Good news everybody!! We no longer have to worry about being restricted from playing "violent" videogames ... the 8th Circuit believes it's a first amendement issue! (presumably from now on the coolest games will be rated "M" for "more sales")

I wonder if this means that the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers will be the next to go ...

Originally posted by wolf
Good news everybody!! We no longer have to worry about being restricted from playing "violent" videogames ... the 8th Circuit believes it's a first amendement issue! (presumably from now on the coolest games will be rated "M" for "more sales")

What's this "we"? We're both well over 17, right?

(Not that the legislation in question wasn't moronic, of course. Any time the Joe Lieberman-types of the world get their knuckles rapped, an angel gets its wings.)

I wonder if this means that the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers will be the next to go ...

Not a chance in hell. Tipper & Co. didn't get what they wanted (a much more explicit letter-coded rating system where _they_ dictated what the letters stood for) back in the day, but what they did end up causing (the Tipper Stickers) were sufficiently generic as to be toothless. (I'm sure Luther Campbell and Jack Thompson might argue the "toothless" part, but efforts to reclassify the Parental Advisory stickers as a legal definition of obscenity died a deserving death.)

Ironically, the video-game industry's stickers are much closer to Tipper's original dream (letter grades AND more thorough breakdowns of potentially offensive content)... but they work pretty well, because those setting the ratings are reasonably objective.

I actually was referring to the broader implications regarding attempts to restrict content in the games ... bring on the gore, baby.

Also I loved the statement near the end of the article which denies the much discussed link between game violence and actual violence. At last, someone speaks sense.

Also I loved the statement near the end of the article which denies the much discussed link between game violence and actual violence. At last, someone speaks sense.

Really? I've often wondered if violence in video games, movies, TV etc doesn't desensitize kids to hurting people. Are you saying it doesn't or that it hasn't been proven? I don't have the answer but I'm always looking for it.

"they" have been saying this for years ...

The best known experiment was the one in which they showed violent cartoons to young children and then sent them into an observation room with a Bozo the Clown bopper doll in it.

Now, we've probably all had one of these toys.

You hit it in the nose. It makes a squeaky noise, and it falls back, then, because the rounded bottom is weighted it rights itself, and you get to start all over again.

The kids hit the bopper doll on the nose and thought it was funny (i.e., they made correct use of the toy).

Ergo ... watching violent TV causes children to be violent.

The judges rendering the decision are the ones that said the linkage does not appear to exist, not me. I'm just cheered by it.

There are a lot more people that play first person shooters than there are people who go out and ruthlessly murder others. Heck, I regularly play first person shooters, AND I carry a gun. Still haven't shot anybody in cold or hot blood.

How about this:

There are certain individuals who, when exposed to large quantities of violent video games, may be influenced what they see and hear to some degree.

The same can be said for rap music, pornography, sitting in the 700 Level at an Eagles game, the Bible, pro wrestling, Jackass, talk radio, raves, thrash metal, anime, New Age tranquility music, watching golf on TV, political rallies, Wall Street Week and the nightly news.

Does this make any of the above inherently bad? Nope. It just illustrates that some people are easily influenced and some people aren't, and that hermetically sealing society to a six-year-old's level to "protect" the easily influenced never works. Every Prohibition just creates another underground.

...so I bought a GameCube last night. I am weak.

I'm consistent with my usual principles, however, in that I didn't buy it for the typical games that others bought it for. When the PSX was relatively new and selling like hotcakes, I held back for quite a while because the first wave of games didn't impress me; it wasn't until some appealing oddballs (Motor Toon Grand Prix, Bust-A-Move 2, Jumping Flash! 2, Felony 11-79, assorted arcade collections) started coming out stateside that I took the plunge.

Likewise, I now own a Cube, but skipped the free-game deal by getting a preowned one. The big Nintendo franchises don't impress me all that much. For the ~$160 (with tax) that a new system would've cost me, I got a Cube, _two_ controllers, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (which I played over the weekend and liked, plus it was cheap), a memory card and a controller extension cable... and if I want Zelda or Metroid Prime down the line, there'll be lots of used copies out there for me to choose from.

Instead, I looked at the Cube's second-string titles and saw enough interesting-looking non-PS2 oddballs to make it worth the $89.99 gamble:

* Eternal Darkness
* Hunter: The Reckoning (wife played it over the weekend and loved it, sequel's coming out in two months)
* Bloody Roar: Primal Fury
* Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
* Pikmin
* Skies of Arcadia Legends
* Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters
* Cubivore
* Ikaruga
* Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero (for my wife)

and a boot-disc import solution exists, so I can track down Japanese oddities as I see fit.

Of course, within 24 hours of my purchase, Acclaim <a href="http://cube.ign.com/articles/425/425457p1.html">announced that they were dropping GameCube support</a>. That in and of itself doesn't bother me -- I can count on one hand the number of non-Bust-a-Move games they've put out over the years that were worth a shit on ANY system -- but third-party developers tend to fall like dominoes once the big names start pulling out. First Sega (dropping sports support), now Acclaim...

Eternal Darkness is by far one of my most fav. games ever. Just all around goodness being given away there. I just picked up Ikaruga today, very good title as well. I really don't have any complaints about my GC. I sold my PS2 a year ago to get the GC when I found out that all the Resident Evil series were coming out for it. RE remake and Zero were both very good. Can't wait for part 4 (you can skip 2 and 3, meh...).
My next move with the Cube is to buy that GBA player thing and buy Lunar so I can relive the best RPG I ever played (at the very least the one i enjoyed the most).

I think part of what swayed me is that there are genuinely good games available for a fraction of the typical $50. If you know where to look, you can find Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero, Eternal Darkness, Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2, Hunter: The Gathering, Pikmin, Bloody Roar, TimeSplitters 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Tony Hawk 4, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time at or below the $20-$25 price point.

There are bargains for the PS2 as well, of course, which is why I bought one of those first.

I rented Zelda... and I have to say that I'm not overly impressed. It's not a terrible game by any means... but if it didn't have the Zelda name attached to it (if it starred Kukla, Fran and Ollie instead of Link, Zelda and Ganon), I can't imagine that it would have the "best game ever" hype that it does, or that it would be more than a moderate hit for the system.

The controls are funky, to say the least. Some of the elements (like swinging on ropes/grappling hooks) are well done, while some are just strange. Whoever heard of a 3D platform-scrolling adventure WITHOUT AN INDEPENDENT JUMP BUTTON? I've spent as much time watching Link plummet (and often wondering WHY he jumped when he did) as I have getting him to go where I want him to. Getting the camera to behave can be a chore, as well.

Some of the puzzles are aggravating as hell. I can honestly say that without online (FAQ) assistance, I would have taken the game back without ever having cleared one of the first dungeons (the Dragon Roost), because there were several points in it that I wouldn't have figured out on my own.

The _very first puzzle_ was one of them; I spent an hour trying to figure out why there was nothing in the room that might generate a key, and no way to progress beyond that point without one. The answer? There _wasn't_ anything in the room with a key... until you lit a pair of bonfires at one end of the room, at which point a chest with a key would magically warp itself into existence. Say WHAT? MAJOR point deduction in my book. Some puzzles that followed were clever, and some too clever by half.

The plot has the common RPG flaw of stopping dead at many points until you talk to just the right person, or visit just the right location... but it's often devoid of visual clues or hints to point you in the right direction when you're stuck.

All in all, I'll keep at it until the rental period's up, but this one's not joining my collection until it drops to the $20 mark or less. That way, if I end up smashing the disc, I won't feel so bad about it.

<i>I spent an hour trying to figure out why there was nothing in the room that might generate a key, and no way to progress beyond that point without one.</i>

Here's another thing that separates different people's attitudes about gaming. I now utterly resent anything puzzle-like. After five minutes of that sort of thing I would take the game out and cut it up into little pieces. Then I would buy it at a store so I could return it to the rental place. I prefer freecell to that kind of stuff.

Zelda was a seven-day rental. I returned it on Day 6.

My wife is loving Eternal Darkness, so the Cube purchase is nonetheless worthwhile.

I finally found a use for my local Blockbastard Video:

* Metroid Prime at EB: $49.99 new, $29.99 used (which is actually a rather significant disparity for them; typically, EB only drops about $5 off the price of preowned games).

* Metroid Prime at GameStop: $49.99 new, $29.99 used. (I'm not sure who mimicked whose price structure here.)

* Metroid Prime at Best Buy, Circuit City, and most other non-specialty retailers: $49.99 new.

* Metroid Prime at Blockbuster: <b>$19.99 new, $14.99 used.</b>

(DING! We have a winner.)

i enjoyed zelda quite a bit. i wholeheartedly disagree with anyone saying its the greatest game of all time, or even the greatest in the zelda series. that honour goes to 'a link to the past' for the snes. :)

i picked up the gameboy player the other day. i think this peripheral is a must-have only for those who miss the glory days of the snes. with so many classic snes games being ported to the gba, and the gba's already fine assortment of quality games, its enough to make the old-school 2d fanboy drool.

how do the games look on the tv screen? shitty. you can tell the games were meant for play on a tiny lcd. screen-scrolling is a tiny bit jerky. hard to notice when youre watching play, but very noticeable when youre actually playing. but it is nice to be able to play these games using the (in my case) significantly more comfortable gc controller.

arguably the best feature, the gameboy player does a damn fine job fixing the problem of so few rpgs on the cube.

~james

I'm not really sure what the point of the Game Boy Player is, honestly, except perhaps as it's being pushed now (packaged with the GameCube as a freebie). As a separate purchase, I can spend fifty bucks to play the games on a TV at a less-than-crisp resolution, or I can spend sixty bucks and play the games on the system they were designed for AND take the games with me wherever I go. It's hard to carry the Cube and Game Boy Player on the bus.

If you want RPGs that you can play on your TV, the PSOne is cheaper than the GB Player...

I do already own one portable that I can run through my TV -- a friend who worked for Sega got me a Game Gear that had an A/V output hack, so that I could run it through my VCR and play Bust-A-Move on the big screen. (At the time, I did not have a 3DO or a Super Nintendo, which were the only other systems Bust-A-Move was available for. It and its sequels have been ported all over creation since, of course -- BAM2: Arcade Edition was the _first_ game I bought for my original PSX.)

Then there's the TurboExpress, which took great console games and _made_ them portable... but I digress.

well, the games i enjoy the most right now are all on the gba (the castlevania games, zelda, metroid, etc.) and being able to choose which console to play them on (gba for crisper display and portability, gc for more comfortable, extended playtime) is nice.

~james

You ever beat Metroid Fusion?

I haven't had a chance to play much lately, but I'm still working my way through it. Jeez that game ruled.

not yet. definitely the finest game in the series though. i got metroid prime, and while it is a good game in its own right, i really think they should stick to 2d with the series. oh well.

~james

Thanks to the wonderful world of ROM images, I have now played <a href="http://pocket.ign.com/articles/410/410028p1.html">Wario Ware, Inc.</a> for the Game Boy Advance.

Once I make a beeline for my local EB tomorrow to buy the cartridge, I may not be seen again for the rest of July. Maybe for the summer. If I'm not back by November, forward my mail.

Additional diversion: I hooked up my old TurboDuo last night.

Sure, modern games have better graphics and sound... but can today's developers come up with anything more surreal than Toilet Kids?

Originally posted by vsp
Thanks to the wonderful world of ROM images, I have now played <a href="http://pocket.ign.com/articles/410/410028p1.html">Wario Ware, Inc.</a> for the Game Boy Advance.

Okay...so...let 's say I was wanting to try out this particular ROM image. How would I go about doing that, exactly? I've tried the alleged ROM sites online, but all you can really do there is vote for the site...it isn't like you ever actually get to what they purport to offer.

Of course, I would only be auditioning this in preparation for buying it...

Originally posted by Elspode


Okay...so...let 's say I was wanting to try out this particular ROM image. How would I go about doing that, exactly? I've tried the alleged ROM sites online, but all you can really do there is vote for the site...it isn't like you ever actually get to what they purport to offer.

Of course, I would only be auditioning this in preparation for buying it...

When it comes to console ROMs, USENET newsgroups are your best friend. If you have a decent news feed (which I do -- Verizon's is surprisingly robust), and if you find a newsgroup where someone's posted what you're looking for, you can download everything from entire system collections for older consoles (say, everything for the Atari 2600 in one .RAR file) to CD-ROM images for newer systems like the PSX or Dreamcast.

The caveat is, of course, that you're restricted to whatever other people have posted recently. You can make requests, obviously, but that doesn't mean anyone has to listen. ;) (I've been requesting PSX Cho Aniki for ages...) Still, if you wait long enough and ask politely, just about anything will turn up.

Failing that, there are always peer-to-peer apps.

(Arcade games are found at www.mame.dk; register to enable downloading.)

I've been using MAME for years, and I have quite a ROM collection for it, but ROMs have become a lot harder to come by in recent years.

What extender do GBA ROMS use, anyway?

Originally posted by vsp
(Arcade games are found at www.mame.dk; register to enable downloading.)

when did they re-enable downloading?

GBA ROMs are generally in filename.gba format. (Most emulators allow you to keep them zipped to save space, which is good, as a complete zipped collection is still a couple of gigs.)

See if your local news feed carries the alt.binaries.emulators.* hierarchy, with a.b.e.gameboy.advance being your most likely target in this case. Several systems have their own newsgroups, and a.b.e.misc is the home for the rest.

I have had some success in obtaining some ROMS, and I'm fairly impressed with the quality of the gaming experience. I think a GBA is in our family future, here. I am also quite intrigued with the ROM devices which allow you to load multiple games into a single cartridge...

Visual Boy Advance is a sweet little emulator.

One of these days, I'm going to break down and buy a <a href="http://www.gbax.com/">Flash cartridge</a> for my wife's GBA, but not so I can put multiple GBA games on one cartridge...

...rather, so that I can put hundreds of <a href="http://www.pocketnes.org/">NES games</a> on one cartridge.

Then again, it's hard to justify spending the money for a GBA flash cartridge, when for not that much more I could get my hands on a <a href="http://www.gbax.com/gp32review.html">GamePark GP32</a> and play NES, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, TurboGrafx/PC-Engine, Sega Master System, Game Gear, Super Nintendo, Atari ST, Spectrum, MSX, LucasArts SCUMMV, some arcade games, some Id Software ports, DivX movies, AVIs, MPEGs, MP3s, and assorted other open-source projects on it. ;)

That's cool stuff... and just right for somebody like me who likes older, simpler video games. I'm also intrigued by the capability of taking movies along. I wonder how much you can cram on with divx? The last long trip I went on I lugged a laptop and a cd carrier full of DVDs so I wouldn't get bored silly... which was a pain.... but ripping the DVDs beforehand would also be a pain.....hmmmm.

You're limited by the size of your SmartMedia card (which is what the GP32 reads from). Hence, any movie files will require major compression to fit -- it's more of a "Hey, it's neat that it can do that" feature than a major selling point.

I would just like to say that I recently joined the 21st century and played my first game of Halo on XBox. My whole platoon is quickly becoming addicted. They sell XBoxen, Halo, and TV's on base here (we're back in Kuwait, if I haven't mentioned that), and all these young, single enlisted guys with all this money saved up because they've been in the desert for months have nothing better to spend their money on.

So we have 4 networked consoles with 4 players each, and stay up until 3 or 4 a.m. each night playing team games (Team Slayer at first, now mostly CTF). But 3 of the TV's are only 14", so split that 4 ways and it doesn't leave you much real estate. Man, war is hell.

I'm guessing DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball would be considered contraband? :angel:

Originally posted by SteveDallas
I'm guessing DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball would be considered contraband? :angel:

Well, they do sell Maxim, Ramp, and FHM in the PX, so I think it would be OK. Unless there's cheat codes to completely remove the clothes. In which case you could just label the CD "family photo album" or something and you'll be OK!

[COLOR=purple]I like the Playstation and Playstation2, but only because I love the Final Fantasy series and the other rpg's like Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross. Other than that, I'll stick to PC games. I'd go nuts without DAoC, Warcraft, Starcraft and Unreal Tournament.[/COLOR]

I'm surprising myself by how much I want to go out and get PS2 <a href="http://ps2.ign.com/articles/425/425633p1.html">Magic Pengel: The Quest For Color</a>.

Looks like an unholy blend of Monster Rancher and Seventh Cross Evolution. The former is well and truly celebrated, while I'm about one of six people on Earth who enjoyed the latter. Best Buy has it for cheap.

Then again, since I _still_ haven't gotten around to starting Kingdom Hearts...

Latest addiction: Dynasty Warriors 3.

I'd been eyeing this series for a while, and decided on part three for a couple of reasons: a lot of diehard reviewers liked it better than DW4 (or at least felt that DW4 wasn't a big enough upgrade), it was half the price of DW4, and it had many of the same features (elephants, for instance).

The gameplay is repetitive, but still lots of fun (think Final Fight 3D in ancient China, with hundreds of friends and foes battling all around you). The levels are somewhat static (as compared to the reportedly-better AI in DW4), but it still can be a challenge to make your way around the huge battlefields, reach imperiled allies in the nick of time and keep everybody's morale boosted.

There are tons of powerups and items, 40+ reasonably different characters (many of them unlockable), four weapons per character and three difficulty levels. Two players can play either head-to-head or co-op, adding to the fun. Joe Bob sez check it out.

(holding off on VF4: Evolution -- my wife has Silent Hill 3, I have DW3, so we're _already_ fighting over control of the PS2)

Okay!

Since the fire, current console list (working) is as follows:

- 2 Xbox
- 2 GameCubes
- 1 PS2
- 1 GameGear
- 1 Dreamcast
- 1 PSOne
- 1 PlayStation
- 1 GameBoy Advance SP
- 1 GameBoy Advance
- 1 GameBoy Player (for big-screen Metroid Fusion-y goodness!)

I have way too many games to list, and when I retire, I will finally have time to play them.

I'm looking to pick up the following:

- Another GameGear, since they're so cheap
- 1 Sega Nomad
- 1 Neo Geo Pocket Color + some good games

I know vsp will be able to help me with that last part. Puzzle games, anything you think will be interesting.

I have been spending an awful lot of time with Soul Calibur II lately. I have it for all 3 consoles. I am totally done with the Xbox version, having everything unlocked. The PS2 version was what I got first, and I'm about 70% done that (have one character to unlock yet plus a boatload of weapons), but now it's almost unplayable because of load times and because it looks so fugly. I just got the GC version last night (have to buy games for insurance!) and I haven't even put it in the console. I'll probably get to work on that some time this week.

I picked up TimeSplitters 2 for Xbox, because it was only $20 and Paul and I played it when he was over. It's definitely pretty cool for a console-based FPS. I liked the idea of it, and I want to play through it single-player.

I need to put more time in on Halo. I tried to beat it on Legendary (the highest difficulty), and it kicked my ass. I need to start easy and go from there.

I need to pick up Stuart Little 2 for PSone, because Jenni wants to play it.

How about that GameCube at $100? It ain't getting much cheaper, folks. Go buy one and make yourself happy.

Alright vsp, educate me on the ways of the Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Originally posted by dave
Alright vsp, educate me on the ways of the Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Like many others, it tried to take down the Game Boy Empire.

"They tried and failed?" "They tried and died." (ObDune)

It had superior specs when compared to the Game Boy Color, but it was seriously outmatched by the GBC's game library and Nintendo's marketing, so it croaked. I grabbed three for $20 apiece from my local EB outlet, along with an assortment of games, and I've gotten some pretty serious mileage out of it.

The system has very good battery life -- way into double-digit hours on an average set of two AA's. Its screen is fine in average roomlight, but you'll squint without a good light source, and (unfortunately) the only light I know of isn't a straight plug-in like the GBC's. I have a Worm Light knockoff that plugs into a special rechargeable battery pack, which adds slightly to the bulk of the system.

There is no territorial lockout, much like the GBs; Japanese games work fine.

As for the games:

* Puzzle games include Bust-a-Move Pocket (not bad, though touchy on the small screen), Magical Drop Pocket (similar to the NeoGeo versions), Puzzle Link 2 (just different enough from Magical Drop to be interesting) and Puyo Pop (typical Puyo Puyo blob-dropping fun). I have BaM and PL2, and both are decent.

* There are some surprisingly decent SNK fighters for the system -- King of Fighters, Last Blade, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown 1 and 2, Gals' Fighters, SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millenium. If you can get around the two-button controls, they're not bad.

* Crush Roller and Pac-Man are classic maze games, but hard to control.

* Shanghai Mini is very nice, if you can find it.

* Sonic is exactly what you'd expect from a Sonic game.

* Metal Slug: 1st Mission and 2nd Mission are spot-on arcade ports. VERY nice for being on a small screen.

* BioMotor Unitron is a primitive RPG that's reasonably entertaining. It's about the only RPG on the system worth noting.

* The shining jewel of the lineup is SNK vs. Capcom: Cardfighter's Clash. There are two editions (SNK and Capcom); the core games are the same, but each plays slightly differently in places, and you'd need access to both editions to get certain cards.

It's a deceptively simple card-battle game; there aren't a ton of strategic nuances, but just enough that you'll keep fine-tuning your deck in small increments once you get to know your opponents. You'll spend lots of time battling the same opponents over and over to build up cards (wins earn you 3-5 random cards, depending on the opponent), but it didn't get old for me -- to this day, I can spend ungodly amounts of time playing it, trying to beat my record for winning the game (just over four hours in total speed mode, with some luck). There are also lots of cards that can't be won until AFTER you've beaten the game, along with a new mixed-deck mode.

There isn't much of a story mode to it -- in other words, you won't be wandering the countryside, hunting down the Holy Fondue Fork that the Temple Adept needs before he'll give you the Magic Wobble Orb necessary to defeat the Fudge Dragon, or anything like that. Apart from a few set events, it's straight-up card battling, and what you get is what you earn in matches.

More notes on request.

I have my GameCube (I got mine for $89 months ago, used). I bought Metroid Prime, but have been too busy with other games to try it out. My wife's been playing Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evils on it, so it's not as if it was a wasted purchase.

My sleeper of the month is <a href="http://ps2.ign.com/articles/435/435365p1.html">Disgaea: Hour of Darkness</a> for the PS2. I picked it up on Saturday, and the rest of the weekend is a blur. Think Final Fantasy Tactics with anime stylings, English translation/voice acting that's actually GOOD (and very funny at times), insane combos and leveling options, random-dungeon side-quests, and some elements borrowed from Persona 2 (also by Atlas, also recommended). AND you get exploding penguins on your team in the first five minutes. How can you go wrong?

I broke down and got an Xbox recently when I decided I just could not wait any longer for Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic on the PC.

Excellent purchase. It came with Tetris Worlds and Clone Wars, both of which are decent games. But KOTOR, damn. That is a fun game. I haven't had this much fun with a Star Wars game since... well, ever. I'm playing Galaxies, but its sort of a disappointment so far, hopefully the content will start to improve sometime soon.

Final Fantasy X is 20 bucks now on Sonys Greatest Hits, so I finally got around to that. I guess I haven't missed too much. Its a decent game and all, but I really do yearn for FF games more in the SNES style. Its just too cinematic. The cutscenes are far too frequent. I've spent more time watching the plot unfold than I have playing the game. Whats doubly itrritating is whne a cutscene ends, control is returned to you for about 3 seconds and then another begins. I don't see myself finishing it.

Any suggestions on what Xbox game I should get next? (Don't say Halo)

Originally posted by perth
Any suggestions on what Xbox game I should get next? (Don't say Halo)

Are there other Xbox games?

Halo, Splinter Cell, Soul Calibur II (if you like fighting games), TimeSplitters 2, Tony Hawk 3 or 4 (both are $20 now and are insanely fun), Rallisport Challenge (if you like racing games - this one is awesome), MGS2:Substance (it's only like $20 now), Jet Set Radio Future (if that kind of thing is your bag), Dead or Alive 3 & Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (to see the breasts the system is capable of rendering)... I have all of those except Volleyball and they were all worth my money. I'd recommend Splinter Cell or Tony Hawk first though. (3 and 4 are different enough that they're both worth owning; 4 is infinitely harder.)

Additions to the to-buy list, but they were already on it (from last year):

- Super Nintendo
- Sega Saturn

vsp, were you the one that had two game rooms just filled with games? I saw pictures, and I was thinking they were yours, but maybe they're not. I can't remember. If so, wanna post pictures again? :)

I wish I had more space, 'cause I want to set up a sort of retro gaming area on a separate TV. I have to buy a 27" TV for insurance purposes anyway, and I've still got the one from the fire (I think it will work if we take it apart and clean it). Get a system selector switch and put the old PlayStation on it, plus a Saturn, SNES, NES and have the connector for the Nomad... maybe in the bedroom. I don't know. I sure do enjoy playing games though.

Is it a requirement for every male to fantasize about making some sort of uber-gaming center? I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't. Including me, of course.

Though I agree that I match the description of someone who WOULD build such a pleasure den, I currently live in a two-bedroom apartment. When I go house-hunting, a finished basement for gaming purposes will be one of my criteria.

(Ah, who the fuck am I kidding? A box with four walls that keeps the wind and rain out will be all I can afford in Chester County.)

I did pick up a cheap third TV last night, however, which will be going in my current game/computer room and have all sorts of systems hooked to it. Those five-setting switch boxes from Pelican are a gamer's best friend. (Let's see. Living room = GameCube and multicarted Vectrex, bedroom = PS2 and modded PS1, game room = TurboDuo, Dreamcast, Jaguar, NES... and if I get pathological, old school GAME <-> TV slider switchbox run through an RF Modulator so I can swap out my Atari, Intellivision and ColecoVision.)

That "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" guy says that men build CAVES for themselves. Every guy needs a cave to hang out, no women allowed.

But my wife is an avid gamer, and she's a woman. Yes, I've checked thoroughly.

I still want to turn an arcade cabinet into a MAME box someday, but that's on my someday-I'll-get-to-it list. (Ideally, I'd have a menu proggy up front to allow other emulators to run on the same control scheme. Since 99% of console emulators allow joystick input, it'd just be a matter of registering the control panel of the cabinet as a valid Windows joystick/controller, which I believe some preconstructed control sets have already accomplished.)

Man. Paul, yes. When you guys live with us, we will have one. Three GameCubes, 2 PS2's, 2 Xboxes... it'll rule. Oh yes.

Ideally I'd like to have basically two living rooms... one upstairs for movie and TV watching, and then "the den" downstairs for gaming. Two or three TVs (one big one set up with surround sound, of course), a nice big comfy sofa and some big, plush chairs that you could sink into and play your GAME GEAR! all day long.

Then I just need to retire. Yeah.

I see these lots of like 100 Genesis games on eBay for $80 and stuff. I just think "man, if only I had the time"... ah...

Gaming rules.

Originally posted by dave
I see these lots of like 100 Genesis games on eBay for $80 and stuff. I just think "man, if only I had the time"... ah...

Oddly, I've never had the urge to sell any of my old-school games on eBay or elsewhere, other than a Vectrex now that I have three of them. I have just about every cartridge-based game I've ever owned on my PC via emulation, and then some, but there's something about digging out the genuine article now and then and remembering, for instance, just how funky the Bally Astrocade's controllers were.

(For the uninitiated -- trigger grip, with a joy-knob on top... that rotated. Joystick and paddles in one unit! Very nice. It would've been perfect for games like Tron or Mad Planets, had the system had the horsepower.)

Originally posted by Undertoad
That "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" guy says that men build CAVES for themselves. Every guy needs a cave to hang out, no women allowed.

While I agree that all humans need their space - I think I'm probably the one - not my BF that wants a gaming cave when we finally go house hunting.

Right now we have a 2 bedroom apartment. (Kids come over every weekend) In our living room - desk with 3 computers (one for me, one for the BF, one for the kids). All computers have a view of the television. Hooked up to the TV - PS2 (adults), Gamecube (kids) and DVD (all). In the Kids room - another Ps2 (kingdom hearts) and the Nintendo 64 as well as a VCR. In our bedroom - TV with VCR and PSone. We will be getting an x-box soon I hope, but as we live in Oregon and the BF is unemployed right now due to our state having the highest unemployment rate in the nation - we are a little short on cash. Oh! One thing I forgot to mention - in the living room next to computers right by couch -my small college dorm refrigerator - Yes I have a beer fridge in my living room!!!!

I have a disgusting amount of equipment, and since I am a dumb asshole, I will continue to buy more, instead of saving to buy a house. Who needs a house when you can play all 248 Dreamcast games?

vsp - I know! I've got three or four Atari 2600's that I'll never get rid of, and probably 100 carts for 'em. I couldn't part with 'em. Same with all my other stuff... I don't understand the people that sell their systems. I guess if you never use 'em anymore, but that will never be me. I will always want to play games. :)

Man... does it get better than sitting down and playing a game all freaking day? It does, but not much.

Active Library

--N64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Star Wars Episode 1: Battle For Naboo
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
StarFox 64
GoldenEye 007
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter


--GameCube
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Metroid Prime
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

I also had in my lifetime the NES, Genesis, and SNES, with a myriad of games for each, all of which have succumbed to the fate of overuse and now exist only in the world of ROMs and emulators. Rest easy my friends, you shall never be forgotten.

I just, at this moment, cannot justify spending the money for an Xbox when the only games I'd enjoy for it would be Halo and KOTOR. I've played other things on friends' Boxes, and found that either the games are not something I'd pay good money for or could find equal or superior versions on the Cube (Splinter Cell, SC2, Towers).

If the Box comes down to compete with the Cube's price cut, maybe I'll snag one. Beyond that, no dice. Especially with the games ready for Cube over this holiday season - True Crime, XIII, Mario Kart Double Dash, Return of the King, Rebel Strike. Man...I get two of those, and I'll be three weeks late for the start of Spring term. Throw in Rebel Strike, and forget it, I'll make the classes up over the summer.

I dunno, man. KOTOR is more than enough reason to buy an Xbox in my book. :)

As uninterested in Halo as I am, I saw some footage of it on TechTv's X-Play last night, and if i thought I could get my wife to play deathmatch with me, I would probably pick it up.

Dude, you can deathmatch with *me* over the internet. And you don't even have to split the screen! Score!

Yeah, but I've seen your Quake video. I'll get my ass handed to me. :)

Oh well, life is short. I'll let you know when I pick it up, you can put a hurtin' on me.

It's a whole different game. I'm good at Quake because the controls are good and I've practiced so much. I don't play Halo nearly as much and the controls are harder (for me). You'd be surprised at how even a match we probably are.

It's kinda sad - my friend who owns an Xbox, his brother refuses to play Halo deathmatch against him. The only person who will is me, and I own his ass time and time again.

Perth - I don't deny KOTOR is a great game, especially for a guy like me who would spend quality cash on something like Star Wars: Yoda Takes A Nap, I'm that much of a fan. I just can't justify buying a system of one or two games.

Now if Microsoft would bundle Xbox with Halo and KOTOR...then we may have a deal.

Is it really much fun to play Deathmatch one-on-one?

Years ago, I bought Duke Nukem 3D for my Saturn, and picked up a pair of NetLinks for it on clearance. A friend and I tried it out, and as far as the game itself went, it was a perfectly good Duke Nukem game; the controls were acceptable, the lag time was negligible, and we blasted each other around the room for a while. But with only two players, and therefore nothing to do but collect weapons and blast the same guy over and over and over again, it got boring very quickly.

If you get four or five guys onto a level, that's a different story.

So, this weekend I got a good bit of gaming in.

<b>TimeSplitters 2</b> - Xbox - Andrea and I are playing through this co-op. We're stuck on the Neo Tokyo level. By "stuck" I mean "too frustrated after five or six attempts to even try it again". Following that fucking bitch is driving me instane. But otherwise, this is one cool game. Too bad it's basically got PS2 graphics, 'cause it sure isn't as pretty as

<b>Halo</b> - Xbox - After two years of owning this, I finally beat it last night. See, it's got four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary. When I first got it, I thought "Well, it's not worth doing if I don't do it on Legendary". Apparently Legendary is pretty hard 'cause I never got off the fucking ship. On a more appropriate difficulty level, though, Andrea and I made it through it co-op in a weekend. Man the textures are great in this game. Whew. Anyway, still a great game. I might have an extra copy I can send perth (long story, but I wound up with 3 or 4 copies, sold a few and one got "ruined" in the fire, but I think the disc itself is okay - the case is just fucked, and has shit melted to it).

Deathmatch on Halo is cool 'cause I have two friends with Xboxes that can link up and play too. So we'd have 4 people. Even 1 on 1 can be fun if you're in to dueling. But really, he ought to get it just to get ready for Halo 2, which is going to rule all over the place.

I think I'm going to try and work my way through Max Payne this week (I've got it for PS2), and then finally get started on Metal Gear Solid 2. And, of course, I'll finish TimeSplitters 2 with Andrea whenever we get a chance to play.

So many games, so little time.

(Next big game purchase - GTA Double Pack for Xbox. Good lord it looks sa-weet.)

Somehow I'm not sure that Dave would be interested in a strategy RPG (even if it does have guns in it), but I'll say it anyway -- barring a November or December miracle, <b>Disgaea: Hour of Darkness</b> is my Game of the Year. By far. Can't... stop... playing.

Originally posted by vsp
Somehow I'm not sure that Dave would be interested in a strategy RPG (even if it does have guns in it), but I'll say it anyway -- barring a November or December miracle, <b>Disgaea: Hour of Darkness</b> is my Game of the Year. By far. Can't... stop... playing.

Not strategy RPG - but MMORPG - Final Fantasy XI comes out for the PC on 10/28/03. (Yes - I'm taking a day off work so I can play it on the release date. Yes, I am pathetic)

Originally posted by dave
But really, he ought to get it just to get ready for Halo 2, which is going to rule all over the place.

See, I'm very dissatisfied with Halo 2, simply because the big hurrah they had for it this year was a movie. Not even in-game film. It was a trailer. And yet, people lined up all over the LACC to see this damn thing.

Granted, I'll probably change my stance once I actually get to, you know, play some form of it. But until then, my annoyance remains.

Barring release-date bumps, November is a great time to own a PS2:

* 11/4 - Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends
Add-on pack with new random-level mode.

* 11/4 - FIFA Soccer 2004
EA junkies have already preordered, of course.

* 11/4 - SOCOM II
More online bang-bang.

* 11/5 - Lupin III: Treasure of Sorceror King
Metal Gear Solid with a Lupin twist. Guardedly optimistic on this one.

* 11/10 - Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Survival-horror. Trailer looks sweet.

* 11/11 - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Bang-bang in Japan.

* 11/11 - XIII
CEL-SHADED bang-bang. Could be interesting.

* 11/17 - Monster Rancher 4
Some new twists, and hopefully harder than MR3.

* 11/17 - Midway Arcade Treasures
23 emulated arcade games for $20; not a bad deal, even if most are already out in several PSX compilations.

* 11/17 - Spy Hunter 2
Vehicular bang-bang.

* 11/18 - Battlestar Galactica
CYLONS~!

* 11/18 - Final Fantasy X-2
Won't buy it myself, but I'm in the minority.

* 11/18 - Manhunt
Rockstar's take on "The Running Man," and you're running. Heavy on the stealth, emphasis on sound, previews are sketchy.

-- jeff. There goes the Christmas fund...

I bought a Today's Special Value.

(but I will be able to play Dig Dug any time I want ...)

EB has it for $24.99, so you saved six cents but ended up paying shipping...

It's a neat concept piece, but let me know how the controls end up functioning. Four of the games use four-way joysticks (Galaxian, Pac-Man, Rally-X, Dig Dug), but Bosconian is an eight-way, and sometimes eight-way joysticks get funky when used with four-way games (when you roll the joystick through the corner, unpredictable things can happen).

I will be a good boy and not describe how someone with a CD burner could buy a used Sega Dreamcast for $40 and have all five games running on it via MAME in ten minutes. ;)

Hell, no. that thing is great. Not thrilled about the ghost-shaped joystick though. EBGames has what appears to be the same thing, only with the classic. ball-topped stick. They also have this, very cool. I'm a big Dig Dug dork myself. I just got Namco Museum for the GBA, with Dig Dug and Ms. Pacman. Two of my favourite games of all time.

Upon further inspection, the controller looks like the ghost is just a little felt cover.

vsp - urgent question.

I am going to buy a Saturn. By the end of November, I will have one.

What is a fair price to pay for a brand new one? I checked by GameStop last night and they don't have any. Do you see them regularly in Philly? If so, would you mind picking one up for me? I trust you more than I trust eBay sellers.

I bought two of the 3D controllers today to force myself to finally buy one. So, here goes. I'm getting a Saturn.

Oddly enough, I may have one new-in-the-box at my old residence, though I'll have to dig through my closet to find it. When Wal-Mart was blowing Saturns out at dirt cheap, I picked one up for the sake of having it, and also in case anything ever happened to my semi-modded one. (I melted one connector point while trying to install a switch; now it's a Japanese Saturn that needs a converter cart in order to play American games. No sweat off my back, as I wanted it Japanese to begin with so that I could use a Memory Cart with Fire Pro Wrestling S.)

I believe I paid $40 for it on clearance. A fair price today? I would say that it's Whatever The Lady At The Garage Sale Says, as that's about the best source for them these days. Half.com has a wide variety of prices, eBay is all over the place, and the usual suspects (EB and GameStop) aren't stocking them on their websites. As for what I'd ask for it, I have no idea, though there's always the barter system...

(BTW, are you still in the market for a PSX Dead or Alive original? I saw one the other day, though I don't know if it's still there or not.)

(looking up something...) I'm surprised -- National Console Support (my usual stop for imports) ran out of Fire Pro S's. They sold enough of those back in the day to pave the streets of Tokyo. As a result, I'm really not sure where to tell you to look for most of the games I'd recommend, particularly the imports. I'm sure that games like Panzer Dragoon Saga command a fortune these days -- they were rare even when they were new.

Game suggestions on request.

Yeah, I saw Panzer Dragoon Saga for like $130 on eBay and people were actually bidding on it (about 2 weeks ago).

Ha, I don't think I have anything you'd want, man. But I'm down for bartering. I generally barter with cash though. :P

Yeah, Dead or Alive PSX would be awesome. I look every time I get a chance but it's always like "disc is scratched, no booklet or case, accidentally melted the middle of the disc so it barely plays, bidding starts at $80". i just want a $20 perfect condition version! :)

Lemme know your price for the Saturn. At the very least, I'd be super duper appreciative if you decided to let it go. As always, I'm willing to pay a fair price.

I just bought Dead or Alive import for Saturn. $14 + $5 shipping. So worth it for the jiggly goodness.

I have locked myself into getting a Saturn. So... how about it, vsp. What's your price? :)

Also, is a Dreamcast Gameshark CDX all I'll need to play Japanese imports on my Dreamcast? I ask 'cause there are a few games I'd like to get. vsp == teh man.

Here's the copy of Halo I'm gonna send perth:

http://www.msdelta.net/~dave/images/house-fire/P0001317.JPG

Right there in the green case on top of the TV. That's all yours, studmuffin. All you gotta do is pm me your address. :)

Originally posted by dave
Also, is a Dreamcast Gameshark CDX all I'll need to play Japanese imports on my Dreamcast? I ask 'cause there are a few games I'd like to get. vsp == teh man.

The Dreamcast's lack of resistance to piracy is legendary, and that includes imports.

If you have a CD-burner and either Nero, DiscJuggler, or a burning program that can handle .nrg or .cdi images, , I can mail you the Utopia Boot Disc (about 4MB) in either format. That should handle Japanese originals nicely with a simple boot-swap; I've played Fire Pro D for years with such an arrangement.

Non-originals (arrrr! matey), on the other hand, are generally self-booting whether they're American, Japanese or European, and the Euros typically have 50/60Hz selectors built in to get around the PAL limitation. What DC imports do you have in mind?

Dead or Alive 2 LE, for starters. (Yes, I know you have that. Avast!)

Wanna try some Fire Pro and SPF2.

Oh man.

I just pulled out my old Dreamcast that was ruined in the fire. The "Power" button is melted shut, and I figured it was a goner. Well, I took it apart and basically sat the guts of it on my TV stand.

Put in NFL 2K1 (one of the few games I have 2 copies of) in case it spun out of control and shot off.

Hit power.

Disc didn't spin.

I thought "well, shit." It was disappointing, because the system booted up and everything. I set the time and date, could see VMU's in the controller, etc.

Then it dawned on me - there's a mechanical switch that the door closes.

Grabbed an old VMU (also saved from the fire) and depressed the switch - bam! Disc spins up.

So now I've got a spare Dreamcast. :)

I've seen replacement cases for them, and as it is, ncsx.com sells them for $19. That's cheaper than a new Dreamcast, so I think I'll order one and stick it in there. Ooooh boy, purple Dreamcast. :)

(I love that console so bad. Jesus.)

(vsp - you didn't answer me on whether or not you'd sell. :) )

(And yeah, I use Nero, so you can send me whatever will work in that. I can give you an anonymous FTP to upload to if you want - or you can stick it on your server. Whatever works for you works for me.)

Heh. Good choices, and all three are sitting on my desk. (If we're playing Dreamcast Stump the Band, you'll have to try pretty hard to find something I don't have.)

Fire Pro is the only one that requires substantial FAQ-qage, since the menus and (especially) the create-a-wrestler mode are heavy on Japanese. It also helps to know some of the foreign wrestlers, as you'll have a better idea of what to do with them (their strong points, their styles, their finishers, what body parts they tend to work on). Still, no other wrestling game in the world does a better job of building realistic movesets and creating realistic matches.

I'm sure I can part with my spare Saturn, but I still have to fetch it. I'd rather not start guessing at prices until I have it in hand and can verify that it still works.

Originally posted by Chewbaccus
Perth - I don't deny KOTOR is a great game, especially for a guy like me who would spend quality cash on something like Star Wars: Yoda Takes A Nap, I'm that much of a fan.

I just wanted you to know that I found this extremely funny when I first read it two weeks ago, and I find it extremely funny again today as I read it again. Good job, sir.

vsp, you got any spare Super Nintendo systems around? They sell out like hotcakes here, and they're getting kind of expensive on eBay for the ones that are obviously well cared for. (The ones that are all discolored and shit sell for only like $20 - sigh.)

I need one of those + Super Metroid + Street Fighter 2 + Mario Kart. I <b>will</b> get them.

I only have one, but I really have no use for it. I never found much for the system that interested me; there were some shooters (Space Megaforce, Pop 'n' Twinbee, Gradius 3, R-Type 3), some RPGs that are all available for PSX now (FF2, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Ogre Battle), and Tetris Attack, but that was about it.

The "mainstream" Nintendo franchises don't impress me; I never was into Zelda beyond the first NES Zelda, Mario Kart was fun but not the best-game-ever that many make it out to be, Super Mario World was sheer overkill, and the Donkey Kong Country games were pure triumphs of graphics over gameplay.

To me, the early 90's (the Genesis / SNES / Sega CD / 3DO / CD-i) were a pretty dark time for gaming in general; there were a few gems, but there were literally tons and tons and tons and tons of side-scrolling platform crap and other shovelware. I spent most of that period sticking with my classic-era consoles and my computer -- my Intellivision was a huge draw in my college dorm circa '91-'92. The TurboGrafx/PC-Engine provides some redemption for the era, but I didn't find about its better games until years after the system had died, and many of those were Japan-only.

I'll give you a pack of matches and a pickle for Super Metroid.

(I got a Super NES at a decent price on eBay. Included was Street Fighter II. I dunno if you remember the post that started this thread, but it's my favorite fighter ever. It'll be good to play that again.)

Hey, I like SF2, too. That's why I play it in MAME, where I can choose between one (1) buttload of arcade ROM revisions.

(Or if I'm in a console mood, why I play Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition on my TurboGrafx (w/adaptor) with a six-button pad.)

I hate players that play like this:

Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken! Shoryuken!

Dickheads.

Y'know, I knew Casey was the woman for me when she kicked the shit out of me in Street Fighter II the very first time she ever played me. :)

Yeah, but who did she play? Can she throw a dragon punch? Fireballs and Hurricane kicks are for wusses. Real men play as either Guile, Chun Li or Ryu. Ken is a wuss.

I was Ryu, as was my custom. I had never been beaten as Ryu. She was Chun Li. Little did I know at the time that she had logged extensive playtime on the SNES as Chun Li. She schooled me.

Originally posted by dave


I just wanted you to know that I found this extremely funny when I first read it two weeks ago, and I find it extremely funny again today as I read it again. Good job, sir.

/me bows

Staying power, kids. That's what makes a "pretty funny guy" into a "comedian". Only downside is, that's probably going to be carved into my tombstone.

Mike Twomey
1985-2045
Friend, brother, GCCafe.com staffer
He bought Star Wars: Yoda Takes A Nap

Of course the cheap bastards I know, they'll scrimp and take out all the vowels, let me be buried with what boils down to a stone version of a vanity license plate telling the world where I lay. *shudder*

Of the original eight, I played more as Blanka than anyone else. I was not a top-tier player, nor did I attempt to be. I dabbled with Honda and Dhalsim. (I never could do the 360-motions or down-up charge motions, which ruled out Zangief and Guile for me.)

When they added the bosses, I played some Sagat, as he was just different enough from Ryu and Ken to be interesting.

In the Alpha era, I play as Dan. Just because.

I find Dan to be the gayest thing since sycamore. He reminds me of international sex symbol Steven Seagull. I like to play as Cammy when I'm playing a new character, because she's fast and doesn't suck. There are a few others as well, but it's been years since I've played. I've logged the most hours as Guile probably, with Ryu a close second and Chun Li a somewhat distant third.

Originally posted by dave
I find Dan to be the gayest thing since sycamore.

Well, that's sort of the point. Losing to Dan is like getting your ass kicked by a cripple in an Elmo suit.

I have a soft spot for SNK's Legion of Street Fighter Character Ripoffs, so since Dan generally plays like a poor man's Robert Garcia, he's my guy.

Well, I fetched the Saturn I was talking about. The box is a bit dented, but everything inside is still in its original wrapping. I grabbed Herc's Adventures to test it with, as well.

But I don't know... if you're dissing my main man DAN...

Haha.

Well, I am now the proud owner of a Neo Geo Pocket Color (though I don't know what color yet, since it's not in my possession yet). So I think that ought to earn me some respect points and cancel out the Dan comment.

Plus, I'm bidding on Cardfighter's Clash. Yeah! Now, there's SNK vs Capcom and Capcom vs SNK, right?

Originally posted by dave
I find Dan to be the gayest thing since sycamore.

What, he's bright and cheerful too?

So, I ordered the purple Dreamcast from NCSXshop.com and it got here today. I got home and installed my old Dreamcast in it. And let me tell you... wow does it look sweet. Works perfectly.

It's a translucent purple case, so you can see the disc spinning inside and everything. I took the old Dreamcast sticker off the top of the burnt one and put it on this one. Wow. I am truly impressed with this.

For anyone thinking of doing it (it's pretty easy), there are a lot of screws you need to take out. Probably 30 total. And, of course, you need to put them back in. But it's really not too hard. The Dreamcast comes apart in layers, and goes back in the same way.

The hardest part was getting the new modem cover on, which took me probably 15 minutes. The entire rest of the installation was probably 15 minutes. So about a half hour combined. Completely worth it.

I'm thinking about buying the mod chip for the Dreamcast. It's $25 and it's a four-wire solder job which will make the Dreamcast able to play <b>all</b> imports without having to worry about a boot disc. Cool!

Originally posted by dave
So, I ordered the purple Dreamcast from NCSXshop.com and it got here today. I got home and installed my old Dreamcast in it. And let me tell you... wow does it look sweet. Works perfectly.

NCS is my favorite importer; they have decent selection, new games on their Japanese release date, and they ship with lightning speed.

I'm thinking about buying the mod chip for the Dreamcast. It's $25 and it's a four-wire solder job which will make the Dreamcast able to play <b>all</b> imports without having to worry about a boot disc. Cool!

If you trust your soldering skill, it's a thought, but it's sheer overkill on the DC (particularly if you have a decent USENET feed and broadband).

Every game -- from the US, Japan or Europe -- for the Dreamcast has been taken apart and put back together in a self-booting format, which will run WITHOUT a boot disc on the vast majority of Dreamcasts. I have an original (NCS-bought) Fire Pro D, but I play my bootleg instead, because it cuts out the need for the disc swap with no soldering required. (At least now that DCs are $30-40 at EB, the penalty for screwing up is less dramatic than when they were $200.)

Plus, I have two of them. :) So the penalty for screwing up is that my spare is no longer a spare.

But I did some reading on the modchip, and it's only a four pin solder. Plus, as I've stated before, my dad's an electrical engineer. He's been soldering shit for like 40 years. :)

I was this close to buying a PS2 tonight. Okay, so you can't see my finger and thumb...I had it run through for a price check at the register at Best Buy (they didn't have it priced on the shelf) and gave pause before putting it back. It was the $199 special with the startup disc and some motorcycle game. I could have afforded it, but I want to wait until I actually put some Xmas money away for the system and 2 games. At the top of the list: Madden and FIFA 2004.

KMart here in KC is advertising the PS2 with the network add-on for $199.

That's what I almost bought tonight.

Yup...that's the one. Let me know when you finally get one and get online. The network adaptor is like $30 now, and readily available, and my kids have been bugging us for one. This might be their year.

Let me know too, so I can go get one and play you guys.

Hooooo boy. eBay is your friend. Or mine, at least.

Okay, so I've got a Neo Geo Pocket Color. It should be on its way to me some time today. With it comes Card Fighter's Clash - SNK vs Capcom. I am definitely looking forward to putting that system through its paces. I've read a few other reviews, and it sounds pretty awesome.

I've got a Super Nintendo coming this way as well. To prepare, I went to GameStop last night and grabbed half a dozen good used games. From Mortal Kombat to NBA Jam to NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Variety! F-Zero is being shipped to my house. I got it brand new and sealed for $5. Wahoo!

I grabbed four Genesis carts while I was there. And a Genesis, which doesn't work, unfortunately. Oh well. NBA Jam Tournament Edition (see a trend here?) was $4 new and sealed. What a deal!

My N64 from the fire still works. I bought a spare AC adaptor for it at $5 and I had an AV cable left over from the GameCube (I use S-Video on my main consoles). The Mario Kart 64 cart still works as well. Both of them look like they've been through a fire. 'Cause they have. Ha. I had to buy a used controller, though, 'cause those got toasted.

I got 14 Saturn games for about $38 total, including Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (such simple pleasures), NiGHTS, Virtua Fighter 2, etc. Now I just need to get that Saturn (wink wink). I also got two of the 3D controllers (the ones that came with NiGHTS originally - they're basically the precursor to the Dreamcast controller, only a lot uglier) and, while I was at it, two of the original Saturn controllers (well, not the original, but the second revision). So I'll have something for whatever my tastes are at the time.

Picked up Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation, 'cause my copy got stolen. Also picked up the Bleemcast version, just to try it out. That comes with another copy. Heh. So, I'll have two copies of MGS again. I do indeed love that game.

I got Perfect Dark new and sealed for N64. Along with some gently used adult-owned gold edition Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask games.

Of Zelda, I'm finally getting into them. I never had 'em when I was a kid, but I always liked the idea. So I've started playing A Link to the Past on my GameBoy Advance. It's good fun so far.

I have a replacement screen for my GameGear. That will hopefully get installed tonight. I pulled the old one off last night. Weee!

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is finally getting some play. I'm almost off the ship (hey, I just started yesterday). Just gotta take three more pictures...

And, of course, Dead or Alive JP import for Saturn is on its way here. I might even get it today. Then, I just need to get that Saturn, and get a switch installed. Wee!

I think that's about all for now.

Originally posted by dave
Okay, so I've got a Neo Geo Pocket Color. It should be on its way to me some time today. With it comes Card Fighter's Clash - SNK vs Capcom. I am definitely looking forward to putting that system through its paces. I've read a few other reviews, and it sounds pretty awesome.

CFC is a wonderful game in both of its incarnations. If you happen to find the other version cheap, it might be worth it if you enjoy the original; the differences are subtle but measurable, and there are some cards that are in one version but not the other. (I still haven't gotten all 300, as there are two that can only be won through random head-to-head awards, and I have no one to play against.)

It strips some of the complexity away from Magic: The Gathering and its ilk (no weak-against/strong-against considerations, for instance), but varying card abilities and strategic features (combo attacks, AC cards, efficient team-up relationships) keep it interesting. Once you've won the main tournament, the REAL game opens up; you get access to new and tougher opponents, there are new prize cards to earn or find, there are four-match and twenty-match endurance tournaments, and there's a mixed-deck option in the back room. Or you can restart and see how fast you can beat it -- my record is 4 hours, 23 minutes so far. Expect a hell of a lot more than that your first time through...

Plus, you can go nuts just trying to identify all the characters and what games they're from. Many are familiar faces, but some of them are downright obscure.

So, like, whaddya think about a price for that Saturn? Maybe wanna sell me Chrono Trigger & Super Metroid too? I wouldn't mind Ogre Battle and Secret of Mana either. And I know you're not playing Super Mario Kart.

In return, I offer you... uhm... a cheap Xbox when you want one? Whatever you want?

That's right, you don't have Chrono Trigger. D'oh!

(Not that you seem real receptive to selling anyway. But I figure I won't get if I don't ask...)

My SNES stuff is all at my old address, and I'd have to do some thorough digging to find any of it. I'm sure I'd part with Super Metroid if I had much of a clue exactly where it is.

Ogre Battle is as much of a trophy as anything else... back in the day, it was worth a FORTUNE (long before it came out on SNES -- Funco wanted around $100 for it), and I talked an EB guy into looking up whether any were floating around the chain. In all of the EBs, he found _one_ -- at Granite Run Mall, about twenty minutes from where I was right then.

Lemme see what I can dig up and put together as a package, so that we can do this all at once...

I have Chrono Trigger... on my Dreamcast. ;) (Thank you DreamSNES, even if you are slow. I also have it as a ROM for ZSNES and bootlegged on my PSX.)

Yeh, Ogre Battle I'm seeing on eBay for like $20-30. Matt wants to play it. I'm trying to put together a pretty decent SNES package. There are a lot of fun games available for it if you're willing to invest the time.

Yeh dude, lemme know what you're willing to part with and we'll talk. I'm always looking for some games.

Originally posted by dave
Yeh, Ogre Battle I'm seeing on eBay for like $20-30. Matt wants to play it.

I've never put the time into it that it deserves. It's fascinating, in that it directly rewards efficiency on the battlefield, in comparison to most subsequent strategy RPGs that allow you to toy with your opponents. (FF Tactics, for instance, indirectly encouraged you to leave one opponent out in la-la land and have your characters execute pointless skills over and over and over again to build up job points. Likewise, I've had many Item World levels in Disgaea where I've left the Gatekeeper sitting there for dozens of turns while I set up a massive Geo Panel combo around him to max out the Bonus meter.) If you screw around in Ogre Battle and the enemies retake liberated cities frequently, your reputation drops and your hope of getting the better endings goes with it.

In return, I offer you... uhm... a cheap Xbox when you want one? Whatever you want?

Heh. I'll have to see if anything's come out for it recently that'd change my opinion on the Xbox. (At present, Panzer Orta's the only exclusive that I know I'd want for it.)

I'm very seriously interested in the Panzer Dragoon series. Four games. Everyone knows them. Hardly anyone has played them.

Orta is down to <b>FIFTEEN DOLLARS</b> at Toys R Us. I am picking up a copy next time I am there. It looks <b>awesome</b>. (I think I said that before, and you were surprised by it - I very seriously want that game, and at $15, I would be stupid to pass it up. If you can't get it that cheap locally, I'll pick it up and you can hold it until you wind up with an Xbox. I don't think it's gonna get cheaper than $15 brand new.)

Speaking of shooters-on-rails (which three of the Panzer games are), have you played Rez yet, or does that go with Fire Pro D on the Dreamcast to-do pile?

Hey uh I'll buy that xbox if he doesn't want it.

Dreamcast to-do pile. Like so many other games.

I know you've got the three Saturn ones; I might not want to actually *buy* them at those prices, so... maybe we could work out an arrangement where I borrow them from you and if they come back in worse condition than I got them in, I buy you new copies. 'Cause they are retardedly expensive. Especially Saga.

I'm not in any particular hurry to get rid of the Xbox; it'll be a little while before I want to, 'cause I've gotta let Giles borrow it for Halo 2. I was just offering it to vsp 'cause he's got a ton of shit that I want. :) (How's that Saturn? I'm willing to buy it untested.)

If you're interested in a lot of games on it, I'd say it's worth the $180. Otherwise, I might wait until it got down to $150 or $100. Right now, I think the real steal is the GameCube, but admittedly, it's a bit light on the games for 39 year olds. That having been said, I think just about anyone could have a blast in a 4-player SSB Melee game.

Xbox is really targeted at dudes like Tony, but the problem is that if you don't have a lot of disposable income, games seem really expensive. I am retarded for having as many as I do (almost 30).

Dave, define "games for 39 year olds".

Little-reported but extremely interesting: <b>Microsoft turned a profit on the Xbox this past quarter.</b>

That's <b>two</b> years after starting out. Not bad, really.

More interesting is the recently announced deal between IBM and Microsoft where IBM will be making the chips for "Xbox Next" aka Xbox 2. It's widely speculated that IBM's Power 970 chip, aka "G5" will be the basis for the machine, since fabrcation processes are already in place for it and it boasts excellent performance in games.

With ATI providing the graphics for Xbox 2, Sony may actually have something to fear. From the looks of it, Microsoft is really trying to use their (admittedly small) foothold to crush Sony's PlayStation.

Compatibility with older games will be a major selling point. How will Xbox 2 handle running x86 applications on PowerPC? Why, with VirtualPC, of course. Microsoft purchased Connectix, maker of said product, earlier this year. This is all being mentioned in the press. What isn't being mentioned is that Connectix used to make an excellent PlayStation emulator for the PC that - get this - actually made it through the courts. HMMMMMMMMMM.

Another player in the field may be the former manager of Microsoft's MacBU (Macintosh Business Unit), responsible for all of Microsoft's Mac software. Guess where he got transferred to? Yes, the Xbox division. His experience with the PowerPC architecture is almost certainly being tapped for what Microsoft presumably expects will be their PS3 killer.

I think this will be <b>very</b> interesting.

Well Chew, Tony is 39. He's single. Lives by himself. So what we need are games for 39 year old dudes living by themselves. He's mostly gonna be playing by himself.

I love my GameCube, but it doesn't have many titles that seem to fit that mold. Metroid Prime <b>maybe</b>. I don't see The Tone getting into Eternal Darkness or Wind Waker. SSB Melee isn't really all that fun single-player. Don't see The Tone doing Super Mario Sunshine. I dunno man. I just don't see him having much fun with the GameCube currently.

But the Xbox has got all the Clancy games and TimeSplitters 2 *plus* Halo, the good racing games (PGR, Rallisport), RtCW, Mech Assault, Unreal Championship, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, etc. I can see The Tone enjoying all of those games, and he could even enjoy 'em with me 'cause we'd both get Xbox Live and then own everyone online. Mwahaha!

Cube's awesome if you're in the target audience, which, honestly, I would say is anyone under 30. People in the older age group were not, in general, playing Nintendo back in the day, and Nintendo's core audience is made up of two parts: people that have always played Nintendo and kids. Most older people are neither.

I have a Cube (at age 32), but I've barely used it. I bought Metroid Prime but haven't started it yet (can't... stop... playing... PS2 Disgaea...), rented Wind Waker (and disliked it intensely, to the point where I could've bought it for $20 later on and turned it down), and blasted through Bloody Roar in an evening.

My wife has gotten more mileage out of it, via hunting zombies and other dead things (Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero), and we haven't gotten around to plowing through Hunter: The Reckoning much yet.

If you're into the classic Nintendo franchises (Mario platformers, Mario Kart, Metroid, Zelda, F-Zero, Mario sports, Starfox, Mario Party), the GameCube is an absolute steal at $99 or less. If you're not -- and, as Dave noted, many older gamers aren't -- there's not nearly as much to recommend it. The only other exclusives of note are:

* Animal Crossing (basically, The Sims gone Saturday-morning cartoon)
* Skies of Arcadia Legends (only RPG of note, similar to DreamCast version)
* the shoot-dead-things games mentioned above, which are an acquired taste
* Viewtiful Joe (which is getting major critical acclaim, but it hasn't clicked with me yet)
* the Monkey Ball games.

Not exactly a console custom-made for PC-gaming/FPS junkies.

It's true. I played Donkey Kong on the Intellivision, but I think in the 20 years since then, I've gotten more sophisticated in gaming taste.

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games. I generally get the EA NHL series every other year, and FIFA, and occasionally Madden. I even liked the High Heat series OK even though I'm not a big baseball fan anymore.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

Originally posted by Undertoad
It's true. I played Donkey Kong on the Intellivision, but I think in the 20 years since then, I've gotten more sophisticated in gaming taste.

(insert Charlie Brown-missing-the-football AAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGH! here)

I'm not knocking the Intellivision, as it was my first system and remains my old-school console of choice. I'm knocking Donkey Kong for it, as Coleco intentionally botched the 2600 and Inty ports so as to make the ColecoVision look good by comparison.

(Note: Intellivision games seem to be all over the place these days. There are PC emulators, there was a commercial PC release, there's a standalone gadget that I saw at Kay-Bee, and there's an upcoming PS2 pack called "Intellivision Lives." One problem -- how the hell are they emulating the controller, which had a twelve-digit keypad, four independent fire buttons and a 16-position disc?

Analog joypads can handle the disc and improve upon it, and the fire buttons are easy, but the keypad is a sticking point. Games like Space Spartans and Treasure of Tarmin used every button on the keypad, and NFL Football had you typing in numeric formations and plays.)

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games. I generally get the EA NHL series every other year, and FIFA, and occasionally Madden. I even liked the High Heat series OK even though I'm not a big baseball fan anymore.

My friend Rick is a chronic sports junkie; he's magnetically attracted to EA football, soccer, hockey and rugby games. I haven't caught the bug myself; I'll play them, but not fanatically, and have tried to sway him towards the Sega Sports lineup (N__2K* -> ESPN Sports), as they're getting better reviews these days.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

I like fighting games a lot more when I'm not paying for them (hello, MAME), and thus not blowing rolls of quarters trying to beat some twelve-year-old who's memorized a 65-hit dial-a-combo string that kills anyone who hasn't memorized its twelve-button-and-joystick-move-combo countermove.

I have a soft spot for SNK's Legion of Street Fighter Knockoffs and Endless NeoGeo Sequels.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

This is why I wanted to throw Zelda: The Wind Waker through a window. Old school Zelda was all about running around and zapping bad guys with your magic sword, with an occasional wall to bomb; Wind Waker was all about exploration and problem-solving and collecting clues and dull fucking ocean travel in your anthropomorphic talking boat just to be able to find something to HIT, let alone to reach the boss and advance the storyline. (And even then I could've gotten more into it if the control scheme wasn't monumentally retarded.)

If I want puzzles, character development and deep dark secrets, I'll play an RPG.

And there it is. Xbox has got all the sports games GC has *plus* Microsoft's in-house efforts (which aren't half bad).

Xbox is teh win for The Tone, with PS2 coming in second. GC just doesn't have much to offer him right now.

Video Sex Pope makes me laugh.

Oh yeah, and I like sports games. I just never got good at the football ones. I'm more into basketball 'cause I'm better at them overall. NBA Jam is teh win.

FIFA World Cup 2002 is awesome. I love that game. So we could always play that.

And I'm down to try and get better at football games if they a) support Xbox live for online play and b) I have someone to play with that won't make it a point to totally own me all the time until I get up to speed.

If I get an Xbox I will definitely get Live.

Money remains the problem, because as y'know I suddenly have to support myself and keep this house while taking on a ZZ Top-related hobby.

You might think about getting a Dreamcast. Yeah, its not the "latest and greatest", but it did have great graphics, great games and the console and games can be had for cheap (and you could get quite a large collection of games for *very* cheap, see vsp's message a ways up). Only downside is online play. I don't really know to much about setting it up on the DC, because it was a pain in the ass.

Dreamcast rules all over the place. GameStop here is selling them for $30 with everything you need. I have about 30 DC games totally legit, with maybe $150 invested in 'em. Plus the options for it are basically endless with emulation.

Dreamcast is probably my favorite console nowadays. If only the controller didn't suck so bad for fighting games...

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games.

Dave's right, all sports games - save Microsoft's in-house attempts - are cross-platform. Here's where I want to know what kind of sports gamer you are. If you're the type that just enjoys the genre, the pure contest of it all, then you'd dig Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. If you're one of those inner-childless die-hard realistic-sports-games-only types, then you won't appreciate it as much.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

This is a shame. Soul Calibur II was bloody designed for the Cube's controller. True Crime: Streets of LA is a hybrid fighter/shooter/racer that is simply fantastic. If you can look over the fighting part, you may enjoy that one.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

This wasn't a Wolfenstein reference. No siree. :)

I've found that the Clancy games are on equal if not slightly better footing on Cube than on XBox, Splinter Cell as an example. That being said: Metroid Prime, TC:SoLA, XIII, Geist (in the near future).

Tony, where are you on fliers? Because the Rogue Squadron series on Cube just owns all. Literally, after Rogue Leader and now Rebel Strike, Factor 5 has this Scrooge McDuck money bin-like structure that contains all things in the universe. Known and unknown.

Eternal Darkness, dave, I'm not so sure. ED is a thing of pure beauty, nothing but. Action game, some aspects of the puzzle, but nothing like you describe in the FPSes Tony. If you have a friend with a Cube, swing by with a copy from Blockbuster or whatever and try it out. LotR: Two Towers and Return of the King are pretty straightforward, you might dig those. Linear with 3D illusions (like Viewtiful Joe, another good title), they're basically contests to try and kill the bad guys in as spectacular a way as you can to unlock more spectacular ways to kill them. (Also like Viewtiful Joe)

In parting, I'm just making a case for the other side. I'd pick up an XBox if there were more than three titles on it that I'd want and couldn't find on Cube (Halo, Halo 2, KOTOR). As there isn't, oh well.

OK, for one thing golf is not a sport.

There is <b>definitely</b> a case to be made for the GameCube (I own two of them and am finding it <b>extremely</b> hard not to pick up a purple one to complete the trifecta). I just don't think it's the "this is an adult gamer console" case. Hehe. For dudes our age, it's awesome, 'cause we grew up on Nintendo and Super Nintendo. For dudes Tony's age, he's like, "What the fuck is this Shines? Why am I squirting everything with water? This is dumb."

Dave, gonna eBay a white one after Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles drops?

For those not in the know:

On my desk, I have a NISDB (new in slightly dented box) Saturn, and loose carts of Secret of Mana, Super Mario Kart and Super Metroid, along with some arrrrrrrrr!-worthy discs as throw-ins.

PM me your price and if I think it's not outrageously high, you gots yourself a deal.

Oh man.

I saw a commercial last night for Rainbow Six 3. Tone, you and me need to get it + Xbox Live. Oh my lord.

(IGN gave it a 9.3. For the uninitiated, IGN is HARD on games. "This game is awesome! I've never had so much fun! 8.3" A 9.3 is awesome.)

Good freaking lord.

OK but first I need a job.

I know, I know.

Yay!

Big package arrival today. Three in total. Here's what arrived:

- A very sexy Neo Geo Pocket Color. It's kind of a platinum blue. This thing is <b>cool</b>. I haven't done more than set the date and I am impressed. Very comfortable to hold and the directional stick is awesome. This is the newest addition to my handheld collection, which currently is 1 GameBoy Advance "Glacier", 2 GameBoy Advance SP "Fire" and "Platinum", a Sega GameGear and now the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Hey, at least the GameGear had Sonic...

- Cardfighter's Clash, Capcom edition. I'm really really <b>really</b> looking forward to playing this. Later tonight. Hoooo boy.

- Another SNES deck. Just 'cause. I have three now. One is horribly discolored. It was driving me nuts.

- NBA Jam Tournament Edition for Sega Genesis, new and sealed in box. For $4, how can you go wrong? I love this game.

- F-Zero for Super Nintendo, new and sealed in box. $5. It's $6 used at GameStop. I kid you not. I had a hell of a fun time with this as a kid, so it was worth it. My Super Nintendo collection is starting to grow...

- Perfect Dark for N64. This is another game that got awesome reviews pretty much everywhere. It sounded pretty good. $6 new and sealed. It's like $10 at GameStop used...

- A whole lot of Saturn games (11). Total, about $30. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 included. The rest are mostly sports games. I figured I'd give them a shot, and if they sucked, I could always sell 'em. All brand new, of course.

I am really looking forward to lunch, so I can whip out this NGPC and start playing. It's an awesome size for a handheld.

Any other good games I should get for this, vsp? I'm willing to try anything once.

IGN's review of the GTA double pack on Xbox:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/457/457994p1.html

Summation: If you have an Xbox and haven't played GTA 3 or GTA: VC, go freaking buy this RIGHT FREAKING NOW. If you haven't played GTA 3 or GTA:VC and don't have an Xbox, go buy this and an Xbox RIGHT FREAKING NOW. If you have a PS2 and an Xbox, and own both of the games on PS2, and want to see how they are when they're done right, go buy this RIGHT FREAKING NOW. If you're Dave Ham, this is a great excuse to spend $50, so go buy this RIGHT FREAKING NOW.

Oh yeah, and the load times are basically gone. Thank Christ.

(It sure does look purdy. I will buy this and start raving about it in approximately one week.)

Holy Poop! I want to play this freaking Neo Geo Pocket Color so bad. It's got a design that just makes me want to hold it. Good lord.

I'm gonna get SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium and Sonic Pocket Adventure. IGN gave them both a <b>10</b>, up there with Ocarina of Time and Soul Calibur. They both sound right up my alley.

Man. I might have to get another one and a link cable so I can play with friends. That, or vsp needs to move to NoVA and he and I can buy a warehouse and turn it into a super gaming center. Mwahahahaha! (Oh yeah, and play Cardfighter's Clash against each other, so I can get my ass handed to me.)

I hope I ride the Metro home today so I have a good excuse to play this for an hour and a half. Hehe. MAN! I haven't been this freaking excited over a handheld for a long long time.

Check <a href="http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/237463.asp">this offer</a> out, then. (SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium, Sonic, Last Blade and Puzzle Bobble for the NGPC, forty bucks from EB.) Beats tracking them down separately.

I already bid on the two games for a total of $16, but should that fall through (doubtful - they aren't exactly selling like hotcakes), I'll probably pick that up.

I attempted to shoot you an email, if your email address is [username of your netaxs web account]@netaxs.com.

Yep, that's my "main" email address, but it's largely overrun by spam at this point. (Procmail keeps it at a dull roar, but when I checked my inbox just now, I had your message, 60+ spams that hadn't been caught, and a couple of hundred that were. This happens when you've had the same USENET-capable email address for nine years.)

I'll send you an email tonight from a somewhat saner alternative.

Well, I won my first game. Against whoever it is that I play my first game against in Cardfighter's Clash. I can definitely see myself getting addicted to this. Hehe.

I really really <b>really</b> like how this feels in my hands. I'll definitely be expanding my game library for it, because it's a console I'm going to enjoy playing.

Color me very impressed.

So, like, I beat Nori. So I'm 2 for 2 right now. I'm sure I'm gonna start losing pretty soon, unfortunately. But man... I really really <b>really</b> like this game.

Told ya.

Nori and Taka (in Joy Joy) are pretty good punching bags for a while, in order to build up a decent card library. Standard opponents give you three cards when you beat them; bosses give you five, but you can't fight a boss until you've beaten all the standards in his/her area, so don't worry about stumbling into a fight that's too tough just yet. (You might stay away from the Resident Evil area for a bit, though.)

The bosses each have a particular strategy. One is in love with AC cards and cards whose powers replenenish his/her own deck, so as to try to run you out of cards and win that way. (Hint: I've been playing for a couple of years and NEVER run out of cards.) One loves extensive use of team-ups, often centered around the Heidern family (Heidern, Leona, Ralf and Clark). One has a lot of brute-force cards. One has a fairly balanced deck with one major "gotcha" card that can be a rude surprise. One takes an anti-AC approach, using cards that strip your hand down to minimal size so that his/her heavy hitters have a clearer path.

Of course, I won't go into which boss is which...

In the meantime, two quick hints:
* There are two noncombat ways of accumulating cards. One is a crane machine (location varying depending on which version you have) that can give you one freebie at a time; usually schlock, but I got a Guile from one once. The other is the trading machine that's in two locations; put in ten D's or five C's, and you get a random card in return. Again, often schlock, but the prizes are often much better, and two are unique to the machines and can't be obtained by other means.

* If you have specific cards in mind -- which you don't yet, as you're busy learning what the cards can do and who's who -- there are traders who'll offer four cards at a time, and who'll trade three of yours for your choice of one of theirs. It's rarity-for-rarity, so you need three C's or rarer to get a C or three B's or rarer to get a B, but it's a great way to get the specific cards you need.

Oh yeah -- and Donovan rules the freakin' earth early on. You'll see why if you get one.

Yeah man, like I said, I'll try anything. Just 'cause I haven't played it doesn't mean I won't like it. This was definitely one of the ones where I was more hesitant, because I never really saw the appeal of Magic or any of its ilk. But man! This is awesome.

If I haven't yet made it clear, <b>the Neo Geo Pocket Color rules</b>. IGN gave both Sonic Pocket Adventure and SNK vs Capcom: MotM freaking <b>10</b>. 10! It might not have as many games as GameBoy, but it sure has some really goddamn good ones. And the unit is $30! THIRTY FREAKING DOLLARS! Panhandlers can make that in a day! Games are about $10 each! ONLY TEN BUCKS! I really like how it fits in my hands, too. If I could change one thing, I would make it a bit wider or put the buttons a bit farther from the screen, 'cause my hands are pretty big and I've noticed that my thumb sticks out over the screen sometimes.

Oh yeah, and it should come with a carrying case. But other than that... jeez. I really like it.

(On a side note, in the next month or two, I think I am going to buy a GP32. I will keep you posted.)

Email me a price whenever you've got the chance; I'm sure I'll find it agreeable, and we can go from there.

But yeah. Thanks for the heads up on the NGPC and a few good games. I think I'm going to get some pretty serious mileage out of this.

vsp, I must say, I am extremely disappointed with you right now. I will never forgive you for not forcing me to get this shit last year. Jesus Christ this is good stuff.

AAAAGHASDFHHH!!!! LOOK AT WHAT FUCKING TIME IT IS! Between this and Super Mario Bros. 3 (Super Mario Advance 4 on my GameBoy Advance), I have been up all goddamn night. Arranging my freaking deck to add Morrigan (whom I acquired earlier today) and a few others, trying to discard the least useful... Jesus. This is addictive as hell.

Morrigan is one of the best cards in the game, so gold star for you. There are no other "vampiric" cards that give an opponent's health to you, and in conjunction with clear-away-blocker cards (Peacemaker, Puppet, Reparation, Double KO, and big guns like Akuma and Yamazaki), it's often not too hard to get that clear shot with her.

If you can get ahold of a Rose or two, do it. Her power (draw four cards, discard three when Rose is played) is just plain awesome for getting better cards at critical times. (Best Shot is sort of a low-budget version without the B rarity.)

She ain't too bad to look at either, so...

Obviously my deck sucks right now, but I have found a good combination to be Zangief and R. Mika, the retarded wrestler from Alpha 3. Zangief does decent damage (at least right now in the game), and with R. Mika's backup + a Unite 2 attack, I find myself with a perfect record against these schmucks. Mwahaha! (I have 3 Zangiefs and 2 R. Mikas, so I almost always have one ready to go.)

Man, I cannot believe how much I freaking like this game.

It's a good start, and you've got to play the cards you're dealt... but R.Mika is such a dead-end card (400/0) that there are better team-ups out there.

Juli and Juni are common team-ups, but they're moderately useless by themselves, and when you add them up you still only have 600 BP. Adding Cammy(a) to the mix gives you one more option, and all three will be useful when you get an M.Bison (which you really really really want but won't get for a while).

The Ken family is superior to Zangief, if you can get a couple of the relevant cards. Ken has Zangief's stats, a useful power, and two common backups (Ryu(a) and Sean) instead of one. The key to the Ken family is actually Sakura; not only is she invaluable early for her double-power-when-you're-at-1000-HP-or-less entry power, but she backs up damn near everybody.

It goes like:

Ken <- Ryu(a), Sean
Ryu(a) <- Ken, Sakura
Sean <- Shingo, Sakura
Sakura <- Shingo, Hinata
Shingo <- Sakura
Karin <- Sakura
Hinata <- Sakura

giving you a load of backup options if you can get the cards to do it, all of which are C rarity or less so they'll turn up reasonably often.

Not that there's anything wrong with Zangief, of course, and if you like the Zangief -> R.Mika combo, get an Alex or two (600/0) that R.Mika can also back up.

Oro is an underrated favorite of mine; he starts at 300/3, but every time the opponent draws a card, he gets 100 BP. Leave him in there for a while and block with your other guys, and watch him turn into a monster after a few turns...

Sakura has actually been my main killer. I have 1 Ken, 2 Ryu(A), 2 Sakura, 3 Sean. They are all in my deck currently. And yes, Sakura is teh bomb. When I get lucky enough to draw her, I'm happy. Always.

Zangief has just been getting a lot of play because it seems like I always have him in my hand right off the bat, and R. Mika seems to always get drawn soon thereafter.

I have 3 Juni's and 2 Juli's (or the other way around), and I have been using them frequently, but I don't have Cammy yet.

You're going to end up keeping Zangief for quite a while, but ditching R.Mika before long. The 300 backup boost is nice, but it's not worth the times when you'll face a tough situation and have nothing but R.Mikas and her rough equivalents in your hand. Z makes a nice grunt even without his backup.

Cammy(a) is no great loss. Plain Cammy is 300/4, which is useful early on when you need SPs, but it doesn't take long for me to find 300/5s or 400/4s (or better) to replace her. Likewise for Juni and Juli; hell, a single 600/2 card replaces both until you find a Bison.

About the only 300-point card I keep for long is Duck King, and that's because he's a 600/3 in disguise (he can either keep the 300 points himself, or give them to another card in play.)

Yeah, I have him.

Wait. I thought I did. But apparently I don't. I swear I have a card that does the same thing though, and the name sounded familiar.

I have his bastard cousin that does an extra 100 BP. The reason the name is familiar is 'cause I always check out the info on the cards, and he's got backup from DK.

By the way, vsp, I found a game for N64 that you'd probably like. Conker's Bad Fur Day. Review available at http://ign64.ign.com/scores_9.html (it's right near the top). I'd link right to the review but IGN's blocked from work and I can't get to it. Anyway, read that review and tell me that doesn't sound like something you'd like.

(I just got my copy, so that's what made me think of it.)

(Incidentally, I have a spare N64 + all hookups + controller + rumble pak for you to borrow/barter if you decide that you do indeed want to play this game.)

I do indeed love Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Have you gotten to the "pissing off the bull" level? What about bouncing on the flower's hooters? And the big pile of crap ... i LOVED the big pile of crap!!

I really have to play more N64. I've been neglecting it lately.

Heh, no. I <b>just</b> got my copy, and I'm still at work (see same post). I'll start it in the next few days, when I can pull myself away from Cardfighter's Clash.

I'm familiar with the concept of the game and have seen the trailer for it (Rare sent out a mini-movie with the "Saving Private Conker" cinema and other skits, and it was hysterical). The sense of humor is great, and the fact that _Rare_ (whose other N64 output was often just short of Teletubby overcuteness) put it out was awesome.

I'm just not much for 3D run-and-jump-and-climb games in general, so while it may be the masterpiece of its genre, it's not on my must-have list. (Sort of like how I can't stop pimping Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, but it's pretty much the antithesis of what a FPS addict would likely be into.)

Not to mention that I have waaaaay too many games that I haven't even started playing yet. Kingdom Hearts has been on standby forever. I may get to Metroid Prime soon, because my wife's having surgery next week and will be on leave for a couple of weeks, so I'll let her use the PS2 for Fatal Frame 2 and Silent Hill 3. I haven't picked up VF4: Evolution yet, but I need to. Fatal Frame 2, Monster Rancher 4 (drool!), Manhunt, and TWO classics packs (Midway Arcade Treasures and Intellivision Lives) are all tentatively scheduled for next week...

Duck's bastard cousin is, of course Kyoshiro of Samurai Shodown fame.

Ah, but see, I am not an FPS addict. I am a Quake addict. I hate other FPS', like Unreal Tournament and its ilk. Actually, I like anything by id, but everything else just seems to suck (to me). Disgaea actually sounds pretty interesting, and when it's $20, I might pick it up and try it out.

I know how it is about having way too many games on the plate. I reckon I have about 130 that I haven't really had a chance to explore and beat to death yet. One day...

I was just thinking about this, so I thought I'd post it.

In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake gets captured and tortured. After he's been tortured, he's in a holding cell. There's a guard outside the cell checking in on him periodically. Crawling around on the floor, you find a ketchup packet. You have a system built into your body called the "Codec" where you can communicate with certain people. One of them suggests to pop the packet and lie still on the floor, making it look like you've bled to death. When the guard comes in, clock him and you're free.

So, the first time I'm doing this, I take the packet, pop it, lie in it... The guard comes up, looks in the room and goes

"HAHAHAHAHA! What are you doing with that packet of ketchup?"

I laughed so hard I cried. I wasn't at all expecting <b>that</b> to happen, and I found myself shocked and delighted. That's one of the many things that make it my favorite video game ever. But that's definitely gotta be my favorite video game moment.

Need I say more?

Whoo-fucking-hoo!!

Congratulations!

I understand that GTA3 and Vice City are now being sold in a combo pack. Go get it. You will not regret this purchase.

So, did Dave spend the whole night whispering in your ear "buy a PS2" or did he just work his wicked way with you?

This probably wouldn't have happened if he'd stayed over at Tony's ...

(Don't feel too bad, since I'm now going to have to get a GBA.)

Dave offered me $40 for my PSOne and most of the games, if I would buy a PS2 today. I gave it some thought, considered the financial feasibility, then went to Game Stop and bought it, along with NHL 2004 and two memory cards.

I was going to buy it next month anyway, so what the hell?

The biggest thing, honestly, was that he only had one PlayStation controller. I was like "What the fuck, man?" and then I decided to take action.

nice Syc...very nice :)

Yet another new bundle of joy here on The Cellar. Sort of brings a tear of happiness to the eye...

:D

And herein lies the truth of why we don't have children.

They'd cut into our already scarce gaming time and would eventually want to play with our toys.

So, I'm trying to figure out how I am going to balance my time between the computer, the PS2, digital cable, and Rho. Looks like I'm going to have to cut back on time with Rho. ;)

I played a couple hours of NHL '04 tonight. Have to get used to using the joystick-dealie for movement...thumb went numb after 6 games. So far though, I'm digging the hell out of it. Can't wait to get this bitch hooked up online.

Originally posted by sycamore
So, I'm trying to figure out how I am going to balance my time between the computer, the PS2, digital cable, and Rho. Looks like I'm going to have to cut back on time with Rho. ;)

*rolls my eyes at you, hands on hips, neck twist* HMPH! :angry:

Wolf: AMEN to what you said about not having kids!

*childfree is the way to beeeee for meeee!* :D

You know, I don't mind people not having kids, 'cause it's one less person to get in my way on the fucking road. But could everyone please <b>SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT? NOT EVERY POST NEEDS TO BE ON THE MERITS OF NOT HAVING LITTLE UGLIES! ESPECIALLY NOT IN THIS BEAUTIFUL GAMING THREAD!</b>

I'm damn glad Rho and Sycamore aren't having kids, 'cause I can't imagine how ugly the spawn of T-$ would be. Even having Rho's genes to make it less ugly, I still can't imagine...

Originally posted by dave
I'm damn glad Rho and Sycamore aren't having kids, 'cause I can't imagine how ugly the spawn of T-$ would be. Even having Rho's genes to make it less ugly, I still can't imagine...

Heh, you are too kind sir. BTW, your care package has been mailed. Take note when you receive it: I did *not* tape it up...lol! :D

Who did, the retard?

Originally posted by dave
Who did, the retard?

Heh! If you are refering to Syc..no. But good guess..LOL!

It was the USPS clerk, who was pretty useless. I thought that once she supplied the box, that SHE would be the one to pack it and tape it up. Turns out that *I* had to pack the box, and I taped the box together, but she added her "special" touches to it.

I think that she didn't want to ruin her Lee Press On Nails. :mad:

I got Rainbow Six 3 for Xbox a few days ago. Friday or something. Thursday, I think. It's pretty freaking suh-weet. Definitely looking forward to getting Live set up and playing on that. I'm enjoying single player, but the AI isn't super awesome (like it was in Halo). It's still challenging, though, since it strives for realism. You don't get shot very many times before you're dead.

I also bought Morrowind. Luckily, I didn't open it, because a few nights later, I saw Morrowind: Game of the Year edition. I was like "Well, I guess I'll get that instead." I'll take the original back. Anyway, IGN's review made it sound pretty freaking good, and I'm determined to play me some RPG's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you can basically get lost in this. And that's kinda one of the things I'm looking for. Linear gameplay has its good points, but having something different every once in a while is good.

I got some other shit too, but I'm tired. Ha! So I'll write about it later.

vsp, sell me shit. :)

I got GTA3 about a month ago from Jimbo, and threw myself headlong into it. Only have a few more gigs to finish up in Portland and then I'm off to the island. But I could tell I was playing it too much when I got a headache after playing it for like 8 hours one Friday night.

I've been focused on NHL '04 the last 2 weeks, playing the Blues in Dynasty mode: I'm finally up to today's game (except in my world, the Blues will not lose to the Flyers 7-2). I haven't made too many roster changes...I think the biggest trade I've made thus far was Al MacInnis and a few no names for Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh and Pronger on defense...that's wicked.

Unlike previous EA Sports games I've owned for Genesis and PSX, I make sure I bump up my ability level with NHL '04. It's no fun to beat teams by 10 goals anymore...just bumped up my skill level to medium (I think I've played 32 games thus far).

I'm not sure what I'm going to get next, game-wise. My brother got me a gift cert from Best Buy for Xmas...might go with March Madness or FIFA, though Madden is tugging at me too.

I am quite happily playing games on my GameBoy Advance SP. Damn but that thing is SWEET.

I'm about to start the boss battle with the vat of Chuckola Reserve Cola.

When I need a break from that I'm playing Super Mario World (Super Mario Advance 2) ... it's a full port from the SNES game. I'm remembering enough of the tricks from the original game that I'm making pretty good progress, but being frustrated over stuff I remember as "easy" from playing through it the first time.

I broke down and got two additional games for it, Splinter Cell and Wolfenstein 3-D (yes, the original Wolfenstein PC game. I'm a sucker for game nostalgia. If they come out with a full port of Doom and Duke Nukem I am SOOO there.) I'm considering seeing how I make out for birthday loot and possibly getting the Atari Classics and the Midway Classics. (Or saving for a trap gun.)

You know, it's a difficult having so many hobbies and so little time.

I didn't get much in the way of consoles this Christmas, but I did get a couple cool things.

For the GBA SP, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I might not have read the manual thoroughly, but I had a really hard time figuring how to view stat changes, skill masteries and the like until I started browsing for it at gamefaqs.com. Once I figured that out, I found myself having a *lot* of fun with it. Its making me nostalgic for the original on the PSX, so I might have to dig it out. The game has a learning curve, but its not too bad, and once you figure it out, its a hell of a good time.

I also subscribed to Nintendo Power. Not for the magazine, which is a big Nintendo advertisement made for 10 year olds. I got it for the free gift. One CD, loaded up with Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. The first two play exactly as they should, perhaps a bit smoother. I never got to play the other two, as I have never had an N64, so its nice to finally get to play them. Ocarina of Time is okay, but Majora's Mask is a lot of fun.

Midway Arcade Treasures for the Xbox. 20-odd arcade games, including Gauntlet, Joust, Spy Hunter, Road Blasters, Rampage, Marble Madness, Smash TV and Rampart, to name my favourites. The price was right, found it in a bargain bin at Best Buy the day after Christmas for, get this, 8 bucks.

Seems like a lot of companies are getting on this nostalgia bandwagon lately, and I can't say that bothers me. I didn't get to own a lot of these games as a kid, and many of them are really hard to find used. Capcom is apparently doing a Megaman compilation, it would be nice to see Konami do the same with Castlevania. Nintendo has been doing neat things with their older games. The reason I bought Animal Crossing was for the emulated nintendo games your character gets. I think it would be very cool to see Square Enix re-release *all* the Final Fantasies on the GBA, individually or as compilations.

Christmas Gaming Loot: None, yet.

Well, to be precise, I got Monster Rancher 4 for my birthday earlier this month, but I'd bought Fatal Frame 2 for my wife the day before and figured I'd give her a lengthy turn with the PS2 (as I'd hogged it for months before that with Dynasty Warriors 3 and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, both of which are pure gaming gold).

I'd love to pick up either a GBA flash cart or a Gamepark GP32, but I can't really justify the expense right now, so I'm putting both off for a while.

In lieu of crunchy Monster Rancher goodness, I've been on a retrogaming kick lately:

* I dug out my Intellivision and gleefully plowed through a variety of my old games (see relevant thread).

* I dug out my Ultima Collection disc and re-addicted both my wife and myself to Ultima V. (It's nice to have two computers.)

* I downloaded the latest build of NetHack. There goes the neighborhood.

I downloaded a PC version of Puzzle Bobble last week, and have been playing that as well. Not as good as the arcade game, of course, but not bad.

vsp, given that you and your wife both seem to be gaming whores, have you considered the possibility of buying a second PS2 (perhaps used)? Or do you guys not overlap on systems that much?

Since there are five different arcade Puzzle Bobble games available for the PC (via MAME), I'm not in a big rush to download a port...

We've thought about a second PS2, but not for long. In general, we have sufficient toys to play with that we can share and do other things when it's not our turn.

Rho's parents gave us a nice-sized gift cert for Best Buy for Xmas. So, we bought a new printer...and I bought Madden '04.

I haven't played it much this week, but I'm very impressed with the improvements made over the past 3 years. It's like being a real owner, without the real money and headaches.

I'm kicking ass thus far. Playing the Rams with Kurt Warner as QB, we're 6-0...just took off Easy Play for the last game (against Green Bay) and still did pretty good. And because I hate the amount of money that is charged for food and drink at sports venues, I've dropped the prices to very reasonable amounts...like $3 for a beer and $1 for a soda. The Board of Advisors tells me I'm not charging enough, even though we're making money hand over fist...fuck them.

No more new games for a while (probably until spring), though I'm set up for the moment: NHL '04, ATV Offroad Fury 2, GTA3, and Madden '04...I can't complain. :)

Since NetHack is kicking my ass, I started over with Morrowind. I'm forcing myself to abide by at least one major restriction -- no paying Enchanters to _make_ custom items. If I want custom, I have to make it myself.

This makes the game _much_ more playable, as otherwise the equation of:
(money is _very_ easy to accumulate)
+ (when you pay for enchantments, they never fail)
+ (custom enchantments blow the doors off of most pregenerated magic items)
== lets you become SuperCharacter who can rip through anything far too early in the game.

I'd like to say "no trainers" as well, but that will reduce levelling-up to a snail's pace.

Damn, I need a laptop that can play this game...

Y'know, I've played Morrowind on both the PC and Xbox. Everyone says this game is amazing, but I swear I'm missing something. I guess I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to play a game without clearly defined goals. Maybe I'll give it another try tonight.

That's part of its charm, actually, in that you can ignore the "main goal" completely for months and it won't affect your gameplay one bit. It's quite a difference from typical RPGs, most of which severely restrict your travel range, weapons, armor and skills based on what main-quest tasks you've accomplished. (You know, the usual "can't get by the river unless the dam gate is closed, but the king won't do that unless we rescue his daughter, and we can't do that until we find the Amulet of Guacamole, which means we need to visit the Dungeon of Bile and collect the six pieces of the Amulet Locator" convoluted-requirement plotline.) In Morrowind, 99% of the gaming world is open on day 1.

The main quest itself is actually rather straightforward, if you keep at it -- it takes a handful of missions for you to get a decent idea of what your real goal is, but by then you're knee-deep in it. You can end up joining every guild and group there is for tons of side quests, and there are plenty of unaffiliated one-off quests as well.

Now if it just wouldn't crash so often...

I have a Nintendo GameCube that needs selling. It was the greatest, but now that i have a AMD Athlon 2600+. It is no longer needed. Ive heard alot of bad reviews about the gamecube, but it is a great gaming console

Unless you can now play Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness and Smash Bros. Melee on an Athlon system, it and the GC would seem to be complementary.

(Besides, when used Cubes are going for < $100, you won't get much for it.)